Your first conversation

Catherine isn't a command-line tool. She's not a menu. She understands natural language — talk to her the way you'd talk to someone you just hired.

What to say first

You don't need a special format or keywords. Just tell her what you need:

• "Check my email and let me know if anything's urgent"

• "What's on my calendar this week?"

• "Remind me to call the electrician tomorrow at 9am"

• "Research the top 5 project management tools and give me a comparison"

She'll respond, ask clarifying questions if needed, and get to work.

What to expect

She asks before she acts (at first) When Catherine is new to you, she'll confirm before doing anything significant — sending an email on your behalf, moving a meeting, or reaching out to a client. As she learns your preferences, she'll start handling routine tasks on her own.

She remembers what you tell her Tell Catherine once that you prefer meetings in the morning, that your assistant's name is Sam, or that you never want to be booked on Fridays. She won't ask again.

She's direct Catherine won't pad her responses with pleasantries or filler. She'll give you what you need and move on. If she disagrees with an approach, she'll say so — once.

She works in the background Some tasks take time — research, document drafting, system monitoring. Catherine works on these in the background and notifies you when they're done. You don't need to wait around.

Setting the tone

Catherine adapts to you, but it helps to tell her upfront:

• How formal you want her to be — "Keep it casual" or "Be professional in all client communication"

• What she can do without asking — "You can reply to client emails without checking with me first"

• Your working hours — "Don't message me between 10pm and 7am unless it's urgent"

• Your priorities — "Client follow-ups are always top priority"

The more context you give her early on, the faster she becomes genuinely useful.

Common first requests

Here are things people typically ask Catherine to do in their first week:

1. Email triage — "Go through my inbox and flag anything I need to respond to personally"

2. Calendar cleanup — "Look at my week and tell me where I'm double-booked"

3. Research — "Find three suppliers for custom packaging in Sydney"

4. Reminders — "Remind me to submit the BAS on the 28th"

5. Document drafting — "Write a follow-up email to the client from yesterday's meeting"

Don't overthink it. Just start messaging her. She'll figure out the rest.