Building Multi-Mate Project Teams

Set up the context, choose the Mates and direct a workspace conversation where several Mates work.

Last updated About 17 hours ago

A workspace conversation can bring several colleagues and several Mates together on one project. This article shows how to set up the context, choose the Mates and direct a conversation where more than one Mate works. It is for members who run projects in a workspace.

The title of this article changed: it was "Building Multi-Mate Project Teams (Collabs)". Collabs are now workspace conversations.

Set up the context first

Mates use several layers of context. Fill them in before the project starts:

  1. Organization: the organization name and description. An Owner or Admin sets them in Organization settings. See "Organization settings".
  2. Workspace: the workspace name and description. A workspace Admin sets them in the workspace settings, Details tab. Describe the goal, the scope and the people of the project.
  3. Conversation brief: in the conversation, open the information panel, then the Brief tab. Describe the objective of this conversation. Mates use the brief in their answers.
  4. Mate instructions: each Mate has its own instructions, tools and knowledge.

A workspace can include or leave out the organization context. The Include organization context option is in the workspace settings.

Choose the Mates

  • Pick complementary Mates. Choose one Mate per kind of task: research, analysis, writing, data. What a Mate can do depends on its tools and its knowledge. Check them next to the Mate picker before you start.
  • Avoid duplicates. Two Mates with the same tools and instructions give similar answers. Use both only to compare their answers on purpose.
  • Check access. A Mate answers a colleague only if that colleague can use it. Make sure the members of the project have access to the Mates you plan to use.

Start the conversation

  1. Open the workspace and pick the first Mate above the composer.
  2. Write the first request and send it. The Mate you picked answers. You do not need an @.

See "Starting a conversation in a workspace" for the full steps.

Direct the Mates

  • Use @ to give a task to a Mate. In a conversation with several Mates, an active mention is the only sure way to choose who answers.

  • Ask several Mates at once. Put several @ mentions in one message. Each Mate answers, one after the other, in the order of the mentions. The second Mate sees the answer of the first one.

    Example: @Market Analyst list the prices of our three main competitors, then @Strategy Advisor recommend a price position from that list.

  • Use @@ to refer to a Mate without asking it. The Mate named with @@ does not answer.

    Example: @Report Writer, turn the analysis of @@Market Analyst into a one-page summary.

  • Without a mention, the last speaker answers. If a Mate sent the message just before yours, that Mate answers. If a colleague wrote just before you, no Mate answers until you mention one.

Keep the conversation focused

  • One conversation per topic. Start a new conversation for a new sub-topic instead of one long thread. Use folders to group the conversations of a project.
  • Summarize decisions. From time to time, ask a Mate to summarize the decisions so far.
  • Hide off-topic messages. Hidden messages stay in the conversation but Mates no longer read them. See "Mastering Hidden Messages".
  • Update the brief. When the objective changes, update the Brief tab so that every Mate works on the new objective.

Good to know

  • Everyone who can see the workspace can read the conversation: the workspace members, or all the organization for a public workspace.
  • A Mate named with @ or @@ becomes a participant of the conversation.
  • If Mates keep answering each other for a long run of messages with no human message, allmates.ai stops the run.