# The Handover: the first 30 days with your first EA 3 lists, 4 stages. So nothing the founder already owes slips while a new executive assistant (EA) learns the inbox. By Hien Nguyen, founder of Screate Labs. Free to use and share. Source: https://sidekicklog.com/new-ea-checklist --- ## How to use this with your AI assistant Paste this whole file into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or your own agent, then paste the prompt below. If your agent can read your email or calendar, it can draft the 3 lists for you; if not, paste in the threads you're unsure about. > You are helping a founder hand their inbox over to a new executive assistant using The Handover (below). > 1. Ask me 5 short questions about my work, my most important relationships and how I like to be interrupted. > 2. Draft my 3 lists (Waiting, Promised, Quiet) from what I share with you. For each item: who, what they're waiting for or what I promised, since when. > 3. Put the names I'd be most embarrassed to make wait at the top. > 4. Then write a one-page plan for the 4 stages, with my EA's name, the start date and what my EA can answer alone, draft first, or never touch. > Keep it short. Ask before assuming. --- ## First: an EA or another AI agent? An agent does what you remember to ask. An EA catches what you forgot. If your bottleneck is tasks, get an agent. If it's people waiting on you, get a human. Signs it's time for a human: - More people are waiting on you than tasks are. - You find out something slipped by accident, because you happened to ask. - Your team says "waiting on you" every week. You are the approval queue. - You write "I'll send it" more often than you send it. - Your best investors and customers get your leftovers. - You reread your own inbox to remember what you promised. A good EA isn't hours you buy. It's the part of your head that keeps track of everyone, handed to someone you trust. --- ## The 3 lists | List | What goes on it | |---|---| | **Waiting** | People waiting on the founder: a reply, a decision, an intro. | | **Promised** | Everything the founder said they would do: "next week", "I'll send it", "let me check". | | **Quiet** | Threads that mattered and went silent: a warm investor, a customer who stopped replying. | Every stage moves these lists from the founder's head to the EA's hands. --- ## The 4 stages ### Days 1-2 · Map - [ ] Build the 3 lists together from the last 30 days of email. - [ ] Ask: "who would you be embarrassed to make wait?" The names they hesitate on go to the top. ### Days 3-7 · Mirror - [ ] The EA drafts, the founder sends. - [ ] Agree which emails the EA answers alone, which need a draft first, and which never. - [ ] The EA sends the update before the founder asks. ### Week 2 · Hand over - [ ] The EA owns Waiting and Promised. - [ ] The EA writes in the founder's name by the rules you agreed, from the inbox you agreed. - [ ] The founder gets one message a day: decisions only. ### Day 30 · Run - [ ] A 20-minute review of the 3 lists every week. - [ ] Test 1: nobody waits more than 2 days. - [ ] Test 2: no promise is found by accident. --- ## The daily 10 minutes - [ ] Start with yesterday's sent folder: look for "I'll", "next week" and "let me check". Then the calendar. New mail last. - [ ] Never close a thread with "noted". If it can't be closed, write down who's waiting and by when. --- ## Skip Day 1 Sidekick Log reads the founder's Gmail and builds the 3 lists for you: who's waiting, what was promised, what went quiet. Read-only, it never sends. 7-day free trial: https://sidekicklog.com