How office managers can keep track of promises to staff and vendors

The real worry

An office manager is where small requests land. "Can you ask the vendor about the invoice?" "Please book the room for Friday." "Did the new hire get a badge?" Every one is a promise, usually made in a hallway, on a call or in a quick message.

None of them is hard alone. Together they are a long list that lives in your head, and the worst moment is when someone asks, "Hey, did that ever happen?" and you are not sure.

Nirvaana is built for that. You tell it what you promised in your own words, and it keeps each promise in view until it is done.

A day with Nirvaana

This is an example, not a real user story. Say you're Rosa, who runs the front office for a twelve-person firm.

8:15 a.m.: catch me up

Rosa types:

Catch me up

Nirvaana tells her what is due, the late things first. It reads like a short text from someone who has been keeping track, not a wall of boxes.

10:30 a.m.: a promise to a vendor

The copier technician says he will send a quote by Wednesday. Rosa tells Nirvaana: "The copier tech owes me a quote by Wednesday." Nirvaana remembers the ones people made to you, not only the ones you made. On Wednesday afternoon, if the quote has not shown up, that promise is still in view.

11:45 a.m.: a promise to staff

A colleague asks for a second monitor. Rosa says she will look into it by Friday and tells Nirvaana. Now the promise has a home. Rosa does not have to remember it while she handles three other things.

4:30 p.m.: Today

Rosa opens Today. It shows what she owes and what she is owed. The vendor is on the second list. The monitor is on the first. She sees at a glance who is waiting on her, and whom she is waiting on.

A shared world for the office

A world is one part of your life with the people in it. An office can have a shared world: the people in it, and the things you all keep track of. It is shared only with its people. Your own world stays yours alone, and nothing from it goes into the shared world until you press Approve. That matters for an office manager, who sees plenty that is not meant for everyone, like a salary question or a private complaint. For more on this, see Nirvaana for teams sharing knowledge.

What it connects to

• It can read a Google Calendar or Microsoft 365 account if you connect it. It reads only what each connection says it reads, when you ask about it, in your own conversation.
• Your email, calendar and files stay out until you connect them.
• It cannot see any app you have not connected. That includes your accounting software, your phone system and your building access system.

If your office runs on something not listed above, assume Nirvaana cannot see it, and tell it what matters in your own words.

What it won't do

• It is built to stop before it sends, posts, pays, signs or deletes, and hand that step to you. Where it can, it does the work up to that step and points; you press. The check is automatic and not perfect, so give anything outward a quick look.
• Money always asks. Paying a vendor waits for your yes, at every level.
• It will not chase a vendor for you on its own.
• It is on Mac now, with Windows and iPhone coming soon. It is US-only for now.

What stays private

• Your own world is yours alone.
• A shared world is shared only with its people, and only what you Approve goes there.
• We do not train on your world. We sell nothing and share nothing for advertising.
• You can download your world, or delete your account, from Settings.

Read more on the privacy page.

Where to start

1. Download Nirvaana for Mac from the landing page, sign in, and connect the AI you already pay for: ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. No plan? Google's free Gemini works with a Google account, and the app sets it up during the first run.
2. Pick the three promises you are carrying right now and tell Nirvaana each in plain words. Tomorrow, type "Catch me up" and read what is due.
3. Connect your calendar if you want it to know your week. Skip this if you would rather start with promises alone.

Compared with a calendar and task list

A calendar is excellent for when things happen. A task list is good for things you decide to do. Promises are different: they are owed to a person, and they come from other people too. There is a fair look at the difference in Nirvaana vs Google Calendar and Tasks. Many people keep their calendar and use Nirvaana for the promises around it.

If you also run the business side, Nirvaana for small business owners covers that view.

Helpers

Helpers are launching, and are not live everywhere yet. Each helper has one job: one keeps promises in view, one plans meetings. They work while you're away and leave what they found for the morning, and you approve what matters. At the Steady level they can also make changes that touch only you, such as your own promises or holds on your calendar with no guests, and they ask before anything another person sees. Money always asks. This post works fine without them.

Setting it down

You are the person people count on to remember. That is a good thing to be, and a heavy one to do from memory. Let something else hold the list, so you can look up and answer the person in front of you.