How it works · 3 min read

When Ezra asks vs. when he acts

Ezra always confirms before doing things that other people will see. Here's exactly what triggers a "sound good?" and what just happens.

The rule

Ezra always asks before doing anything that:

Ezra doesn't ask before doing things that:

The line: does anyone other than you see the result? If yes, Ezra asks. If no, he just does it.

What "asking" looks like

It's not formal. It's a quick check, in his usual voice:

Drafted. Want to read it before I send?
[draft of the email]
looks good, send
Sent ✅

Or, when there's something specific worth flagging:

About to schedule lunch with Tom for Thursday at noon. Sound good?
make it 12:30 instead
Got it. 12:30 Thursday with Tom. Sending the invite now.

What "acting without asking" looks like

For private actions — searching, summarizing, drafting — Ezra just does it. No confirmation needed because the result is just for you.

find tom's number
+1 (425) 555-0143 — from his email signature.
summarize the long thread with sarah
She wants the contract by Friday, has 3 specific changes she wants discussed, and is open to a call this week to go through them.

Tapback shortcuts

For approve/decline moments, you can just react with a Tapback instead of typing:

Reacting with 👍 to a draft sends it. Reacting with 👎 cancels. No typing needed.

When in doubt, ask Ezra

If you're not sure whether Ezra is about to do something or just suggesting it, just ask: "Are you actually about to send this, or just showing me?" He'll be explicit.

If you ever feel like Ezra acted without asking when he shouldn't have, tell him. "You shouldn't have done that without asking." He'll apologize, fix it (if possible), and update his rules so it doesn't happen again.

The principle

The rule isn't "ask about everything" or "act on everything." It's "ask when other people are involved or when an action is hard to reverse." Most things — reading, drafting, summarizing, finding — are private and reversible, so Ezra just does them.

The result: Ezra feels fast for the small stuff and careful for the consequential stuff. Which is exactly the friend you'd want.