---
title: "Boost Productivity with an AI Agent — Guide"
canonical: "https://build.nvidia.com/rtx-spark/agents-for-productivity/overview.md"
---
# Basic Idea
An agent can act as your chief of staff, helping you:
- **Stay organized:** Keep track of priorities, deadlines, and things waiting on you.
- **Assist with work:** It can gather information for a particular task, help you brainstorm, or draft documents based on your input.
- **Hand off some tasks:** Manage some tasks end-to-end, like updating trackers, sending reports, or creating custom news reports.
# Setup
In this guide, you’ll connect an AI agent to the tools you already use, organize the context it needs, and create reusable skills for routines such as daily briefings and project updates.
# Step 1. Install your preferred agent
You can check our [Setup Guide](https://build.nvidia.com/rtx-spark/start-with-agent).
# Step 2. Connect your work apps
App connections let the agent read your work and use your tools.
You might want to connect any or some of the following applications:
- Email & Calendar apps (e.g. Gmail, Outlook)
- Communications apps (e.g. Slack, MS Teams)
- Workspaces (Google Workspace, OneDrive, Dropbox)
- Research sources
**Option A [Recommended]: Use the plugins, tools, or connectors your agent offers to connect to your apps. If your agent doesn’t offer these, use Option B to prompt your agent.**
To connect these applications, see [Set Up Your First AI Agent on Your RTX Spark - Step 3](https://build.nvidia.com/rtx-spark/start-with-agent#:~:text=Step%203,Connect%20your%20apps).
**Option B: Prompt your agent**
Replace the app names in [brackets] with the applications you use.
```prompt
Help me connect my [Outlook] and [Slack] for a chief of staff. Show me the requested permissions and use read and draft-only access if available to my [Outlook] and [slack].
```
> [!NOTE]
> To be careful, we recommend starting with read-only access, and expanding write access as needed. For emails, we recommend allowing draft permissions.
**Check the connection**
```prompt
Check my [Outlook mail] and [Slack] for incoming messages today.
```
# Step 3. Optional: Build a second brain
With your apps connected, you can organize your work context in one place before creating skills.
A second brain is a wiki or database of notes about your projects, meetings, workstreams, and contacts. Your agent can build and maintain it, while you can review and edit the notes yourself. Typically people manage this in a notes viewer app like Obsidian.
This gives your agent a more complete picture of your work, so it can give more relevant, personalized answers without you having to re-explain each project.
Ask your agent to connect project notes with goals, priorities, owners, deadlines, decisions, next steps, and source links.
Keep communication preferences in agent memory and project details in the second brain. In the next step, you can have your skills use these notes as context.
**Set it up**
```prompt
Help me create a second brain / LLM wiki in Obsidian for my active projects, with one Markdown note per project. If Obsidian isn’t installed, install it for me first. Use my connected apps to organize each note by goals, priorities, owners, deadlines, decisions, and next steps. Link related projects, meetings, and contacts. Keep source links, and show me the first note before applying the format to the rest.
```
**Use it**
```prompt
Review these project notes and summarize my current priorities and next steps. Use recent decisions to prioritize my work, and flag conflicts between the notes and newer messages.
```
**Keep it current**
```prompt
Every weekday at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., update my second brain with new decisions, status changes, and messages across my connected channels. Link to sources, flag unfinished priorities, and notify me only if something needs my attention.
```
# Step 4. Create your Chief of Staff skills
A skill saves the approach and output format for a repeatable task. For more details, see [Set Up Your First AI Agent on Your RTX Spark - Step 5](https://build.nvidia.com/rtx-spark/start-with-agent#:~:text=Memory%20%26%20Skills%20%2D%20Teach%20your%20agent%20to%20remember%20how%20you%20like%20to%20work).
Start with one routine: a morning briefing, project update, or dashboard update. If you built a second brain, use its notes as context; otherwise, use your connected apps and documents directly.
**To create a skill:**
- Ask the agent to guide you through creating the skill.
- Explain your goal and what a good outcome looks like.
- Specify the apps, documents, messages, and any second brain notes it should use.
- Describe the output format you want.
Test the skill, give feedback, and refine it until you are happy with the result.
**Morning briefing**
```prompt
Create a morning briefing skill that acts as my executive assistant and helps me organize my day. Keep the briefing concise without missing important messages or tasks.
To do this:
• Check the schedule tab in my tracker for projects due soon or running late. If I have second brain notes, use them for project context and recent decisions.
• Check my task app and emails I have flagged as tasks.
• Check emails and messages from the last 72 hours for anything urgent. Flag conflicts between project notes and newer messages.
Then prepare an answer that contains:
• Message summary: Up to 5 messages, one line each, with a source link and a flag for anything needing more attention.
• To-do list: Up to 5 tasks, prioritizing urgent and important work, then urgent tasks that cannot be skipped, then important work.
• Tasks you can handle: Up to 5 items from my to-do list that you can complete for me.
• Backlog: Remaining tasks for later.
Keep each item to one line, link to sources where relevant, use bullets, and clearly separate the sections.
Flag anything you could not check or are unsure of.
```
Once the skill works as intended, schedule it so your briefing is ready when you start work:
```prompt
Run my morning briefing every weekday at 8 a.m. in [time zone]. Deliver it in [chat or supported channel]. Keep replies as drafts for review.
```
**Dashboard Updates**
```prompt
Create a dashboard update skill that acts as a project manager and keeps my project dashboard current.
Ask me which tracker you want me to work with first.
Review email and project messages for changes to [project].
Then show proposed tracker updates with owners, deadlines, blockers, and source links.
• If I have second brain notes, use them for context and flag conflicts with newer messages.
• If approved, implement the changes in the tracker.
• If a workstream has stalled, suggest a follow-up and draft a message for my review.
• If an update is unclear, ask me how to handle it instead of guessing.
Success means current information, clear status, owners, and next actions, while preserving the document’s format and functionality.
```
Once you trust the skill’s results, you can allow it to update the tracker automatically each day. Use this prompt:
```prompt
Adjust the Dashboard updates skill to automatically implement the changes to the tracker. If in doubt, consult with me. Run the dashboard update skill every weekday at 5 p.m. Please configure a scheduled task.
```