Work queue
Work queue hands every Task, Issue and Approval to the right Worker, Human or Agent, with leases, priority, due times and proof.
Humans and Agents pull from the same queue, each under their own Mandate and Limits.
Summary
| Part | This System |
|---|---|
| Group | Moves to Agents |
| Status | Live |
| Shelf | Front: offered from a Startup’s first days |
You can ask:
- “What needs my approval?”
- “Approve the refunds waiting on me”
- “Give this task to the billing agent”
What you get
| Part | This System |
|---|---|
| Starts | On for every Startup at creation, with nothing to install. |
| Built from | Workflows, Background actions, Database, Event streams |
Nouns it owns
| Noun | Definition |
|---|---|
| Task | A Task is an Action waiting on a Worker, with an assignee, a due time, and a place in that Worker’s inbox. |
| Approval | An Approval is a Task to allow or refuse one pending Action that exceeds a Limit or a Mandate. |
| Mandate | A Mandate is a standing authorization for an Agent to act for a Party, within Permissions and Limits, until it expires. |
| Limit | A Limit is a bound on a Permission, Entitlement, or Mandate, checked before every call; exceeding it creates an Approval. |
Verbs
| Verb | Object | Approval | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task.assign | Task | None | Task.assigned |
| Task.complete | Task | None | Task.completed |
| Task.escalate | Task | None | Task.escalated |
| Task.delegate | Task | None | Task.delegated |
| Approval.approve | Approval | None | Approval.approved |
| Approval.refuse | Approval | None | Approval.refused |
| Mandate.authorize | Mandate | Asks first; waits 1 business hour | Mandate.authorized |
| Mandate.revoke | Mandate | None | Mandate.revoked |
Events
| Direction | Event | How |
|---|---|---|
| Emits | Task.assigned | By Task.assign |
| Emits | Task.completed | By Task.complete |
| Emits | Task.escalated | By Task.escalate |
| Emits | Task.delegated | By Task.delegate |
| Emits | Approval.approved | By Approval.approve |
| Emits | Approval.refused | By Approval.refuse |
| Emits | Mandate.authorized | By Mandate.authorize |
| Emits | Mandate.revoked | By Mandate.revoke |
| Emits | Approval.expired | Raised when a date passes |
| Emits | Mandate.expired | Raised when a date passes |
States
The lifecycle of an Approval:
| State | Meaning | Moves to |
|---|---|---|
pending (first) | An Action waits on the answer. | approved by Approval.approve; refused by Approval.refuse; expired on Approval.expired when nobody answered by its deadline |
approved | The Action it held runs. | None: it ends here. |
refused | The Action it held ends refused, with the reason given. | None: it ends here. |
expired | Nobody answered by the deadline, so the Action it held ends canceled. | None: it ends here. |
Its other Nouns with a lifecycle: Mandate.
Who operates it
| Part | This System |
|---|---|
| Accountable | Operations Lead |
| Team | Operations Team |
| Seat | A role agent holds it until a Human is seated. |
| Autonomy | supervised |
| Also calls its Verbs | Founder, Product Lead, Security Engineer, Delivery Manager, Supply Manager, Finance Lead, Treasurer, Legal Lead, Compliance Officer, People Lead, Recruiter |
Approvals and limits
| Verb | Rule | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Mandate.authorize | A person says yes first | Waits 1 business hour |
Processes that use it
| Process | How it uses it |
|---|---|
| Product definition | A step calls Task.assign |
| Delivery | A step calls Task.assign |
| Supply | A step calls Task.assign |
| Role review | A step calls Task.assign |
| Billing | A Workflow writes Approval |
| Licensed review | A step calls Task.assign |
| Contracting | A Workflow writes Approval |
| Hiring | A step calls Mandate.authorize |
| Vendor onboarding | A Workflow writes Task |
| Legal notices | A step calls Task.delegate |
| Press inquiries | A Workflow writes Approval |
| Procure | A step calls Mandate.authorize |
| Expense approval | A Workflow writes Approval |
| Budget | A Workflow writes Approval |
| Mail handling | A step calls Task.assign |
| Staffing | A Workflow writes Task |
Rail underneath
None.
Views and dashboards
| View | Shows | Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| The Operations Lead’s view | The Metrics its accountable Role answers for. | Liquidity |
Access
What each Access level may call here.
| Access level | May call |
|---|---|
owner | Every Verb (28) |
admin | All but 1 of 28: Mandate.authorize |
member | All but 8 of 28: Limit.create, Limit.update, Limit.delete, Mandate.create, Mandate.update, Mandate.delete, … |
viewer | Read only (8 of 28) |
Import and export
None.
Fees and pricing
None.
Availability and limits
| Part | This System |
|---|---|
| Status | Live |
Compliance notes
Controls it carries:
- Log completeness
- Append-only records
- Point-in-time recovery
- Processing definitions
- Action completion
Related Systems
Example
A Services-as-Software contract review service receives 30 contracts in one morning. Agents claim and finish 27; three need a licensed attorney, so Work queue leases them to the two on duty, due in two days. A lease that lapses returns its Task to the queue.