Follow-ups

A Follow-up workflow chases the things you send that don't get an answer: the quote nobody replied to, the proposal that went quiet, the invoice with no word back. When a thread you started stays silent long enough, Dustav drafts the nudge — as a reply on that same thread — and it waits in Drafts for you to send.

It's the shape for "if they don't answer, chase them."

The sentence

"Three days after I send a quote with no reply, draft a friendly nudge. Once more a week later, then stop."

Four parts:

• What you send — "a quote to a customer". Dustav reads each message you send right after it goes out, and the ones that fit start being watched.
• How long to wait — three quiet days before the first nudge.
• How many times — once more a week later, then it leaves the thread alone. Two nudges is the default; five is the most.
• The words — a template. The nudge follows it word for word, with the blanks filled from what you sent.

How it works: nothing is armed, nothing is cancelled

When you send the quote, nothing is scheduled. Each morning, Dustav looks at every watched thread and asks one question: is the last message on it still yours, and has it been quiet long enough?

• They replied? Then the answer is no, and there was never anything to cancel. The thread is marked answered.
• You followed up yourself? The clock starts again from your message.
• Still quiet, long enough? Then the nudge is drafted as a reply on that thread, to the people you wrote to.

Before any nudge is drafted, Dustav checks the thread in Gmail itself, so a reply that arrived since the last sync still counts.

What it knows, and what it doesn't

A follow-up knows one thing: nobody has written on that thread since you did. It doesn't know whether an invoice is paid, whether they called you, or whether they answered in a new email. Those all look like silence.

So you see the evidence before you send. Beside every nudge: "No reply on this thread since you sent it on Sep 7 — if they answered another way, discard the nudge." It sits on the Drafts row, on the conversation and in the notification. It's never written into the email itself, because a note meant for you would otherwise be mailed to your customer.

If your invoicing app already sends reminders, let it. A follow-up is for the invoice you emailed by hand.

On the tab

A Follow-up card shows what you send, how long it waits, and the template it sends, plus a running count: watching 4 · nudged 6 · answered 9. Open it to see every send it's watching with where each one stands ("a nudge is due Thu if it stays quiet", "nudge 1 of 2 is in Drafts", "they replied"), each opening its conversation, and every nudge it has drafted.

On the conversation itself, a line says the same thing, with Stop chasing beside it. You can also just tell Dustav: "stop chasing the Harper quote." To stop the whole rule, pause it.

What it can't do

It can't send; every nudge is a draft. It can't chase something you sent before the rule existed; it starts with your sends from that day on. It can't nudge more often than once a morning, or sooner than a day. And it never claims more than silence.