Working with Rally, the agent

So far this book has been about the room: the message box, the files you drop in, the people you invite. This chapter is about the one in the room who never goes home. That is Rally, the agent.

Yes, the agent has the same name as the app. You were warned about this in chapter 1, and this is the last time it will come up. When this chapter says "Rally", it means the agent: the thing that reads your request, decides what to do, and does it.

A colleague, not a search box#

Every Channel has its own Rally. It remembers what was said earlier in that conversation, knows which files are in it, and picks up where it left off when you come back tomorrow. A search box forgets you the moment you press Return. Rally is closer to a colleague who sat in on the meeting.

Most people's first surprise is that Rally does not ask permission. You ask for something and it starts. How Rally works explains why, and what keeps that safe.

It can be wrong#

Rally is honest about where it got things, but it is not infallible. A web page can be out of date. A memory can be stale. A spreadsheet can have a typo in it that Rally faithfully carries into its summary. When something matters (a number going to a client, an email going to your boss, a change to real code), read what Rally did before you rely on it. The activity rows and sources from chapter 2 are there for exactly that.

What is in this chapter#

The pages that follow start with how Rally decides what to do and why it rarely stops to ask. Then come the things it can do for you. It can search the web and read pages, and open links in a browser right beside the conversation. It has its own private computer for running code, crunching data and working on GitHub repositories. It can draw pictures and record voices. It can remember things between conversations and set itself a reminder to come back later. And for big jobs it can call in helpers, while keeping receipts so nothing gets done twice.

None of this needs switching on. You ask in plain words, and Rally picks the tool. These pages show you what is in the toolbox, so you know what to ask for.

Start with How Rally works.