Conversations with your manager

Who can use this: Employees and managers.

Conversations are async, threaded messages between you and your manager. They sit between the formality of a written summary and the immediacy of a chat tool — a place to talk through specific topics over days or weeks rather than minutes, and to keep a searchable record of what was discussed.

This article covers how to read and reply to messages, how threading works, how to mark items resolved, what is private to you, and how to tune notifications so the right things reach you at the right time.

When to use a conversation

Conversations are useful when a topic is important enough to think about but not urgent enough to demand a meeting. Common patterns:

• Your manager shares a conversation starter — a short prompt that invites you to reflect on a specific question (for example "What is the one thing you'd want me to do differently next quarter?"). You reply when you are ready.
• You want to flag a blocker, frustration, or win without scheduling a 1:1.
• You are working through a development area together and want a written record of progress.
• You want feedback on something specific — a draft, a decision, a customer interaction — before your next sync.

Conversations are not the right tool for instant messaging or for sensitive topics that need real-time discussion. If something is urgent or emotionally charged, send a Slack/Teams message or schedule time with your manager.

Anatomy of a conversation

A conversation has:

• A title — a short summary of the topic, set by whoever started it.
• A manager and an employee — the two participants. No one else is part of the thread.
• A status — Open (active discussion) or Resolved (closed, archived).
• An opening message — the first prompt or note that started the thread.
• A message timeline — every reply, in order, with author, timestamp, and rich text body.
• An attribute or observation context (optional) — some conversations are linked to a specific attribute (for example "Communication") or to an observation, giving the discussion a clear focus.

The timeline reads top-down. The most recent message is at the bottom, and the composer for your reply is below that.

Reading a conversation

You arrive at a conversation in one of three ways:

1. From the Conversations card on your dashboard.
2. From the Conversations item in the left navigation rail.
3. From an email or in-app notification telling you that your manager has replied or started a new thread.

When you open a conversation, every message is loaded in order. Unread messages are visually highlighted until you scroll past them, at which point they are marked read automatically.

If a conversation is long, the timeline supports keyboard navigation:

• j / k — move down / up between messages.
• r — focus the reply composer.
• e — expand or collapse the most recent message.

Replying to a message

The reply composer sits below the timeline. To reply:

1. Click into the composer (or press r).
2. Type your reply. The composer is a rich text editor with the same formatting tools your manager has — see the next section.
3. Click Send (or press Cmd/Ctrl + Enter).

Your reply appears in the timeline immediately and your manager is notified through whichever channels they have enabled.

There is no "typing indicator" and no read receipts beyond the in-app unread state. Conversations are intentionally async — assume your manager will see your reply within a business day, not within minutes.

Rich text formatting

The conversation editor supports:

• Bold, italic, strikethrough, and inline code.
• Bulleted and numbered lists.
• Block quotes for quoting prior messages or external context.
• Headings (H2 and H3) for longer replies.
• Inline links — paste a URL and the editor will render it as a hyperlink.
• Code blocks with a monospace font, useful for sharing snippets, log lines, or commands.

Formatting is preserved in the timeline and in any email notifications sent to your manager.

Mentions and attachments

Conversations are scoped to two people, so there are no @mentions. If you want to bring in an additional perspective, ask your manager — they can route the topic into a separate workflow (a 360 feedback request, an observation tagged for later discussion, or a separate conversation).

File attachments are not supported inside a conversation message. To share a document, paste a link to the file in your storage tool of choice (Google Drive, Notion, Confluence, etc.).

Threading and context

Conversations are linear threads, not nested replies. Each new message goes to the end of the timeline. This keeps the discussion easy to read top-to-bottom and makes the conversation suitable as a written record.

Some conversations carry extra context at the top of the page:

• Attribute context — if the conversation is linked to an attribute, the chip is shown next to the title (for example "Communication" or "Strategic thinking"). Replies are still freeform; the attribute is a tag that helps your manager group related discussions.
• Observation context — if your manager started the conversation from a specific observation they recorded, a small "Started from observation" link is shown at the top. Click it to see the observation that prompted the conversation. This is one of the few places where the underlying observation may be visible to you, and only because your manager chose to share it.

If neither tag is present, the conversation is freeform.

Conversation starters

Your manager may share a conversation starter — a short prompt that opens a new conversation. Examples:

• "What is one thing you want to spend more time on this quarter?"
• "Where would you like more feedback from me?"
• "If you could change one thing about how our team works, what would it be?"

You will see a starter as a new conversation on your dashboard, with the starter text as the opening message. There is no time pressure to respond — reply when you have had a chance to think. If a starter does not resonate, it is fine to say so in your reply; the prompt is an invitation, not an assignment.

Marking a conversation resolved

When a topic is fully discussed and there is no further action required, either you or your manager can mark the conversation Resolved.

To resolve a conversation:

1. Open the conversation.
2. Click Resolve in the page header.
3. Optionally add a short closing note ("Closing this out — we covered everything in our 1:1 last week.").

Resolved conversations stay accessible — they move out of the active list on the dashboard and into the Resolved filter on the Conversations page. The full timeline is preserved, and either party can reopen the conversation by clicking Reopen if the topic comes up again.

Resolving is reversible and lossless. Use it generously — it keeps your active conversation list focused on what is actually live.

Notifications

By default you are notified when:

• Your manager starts a new conversation with you (immediate).
• Your manager replies to an open conversation (immediate).
• A conversation has been open with no reply for more than a week (digest).

Notifications can be delivered through any combination of:

• In-app — the bell icon in the top bar.
• Email — sent to your work address.
• Slack or Teams — if your org has the integration enabled and you have linked your account.

To change which channels are used for which events, go to Profile → Notifications → Conversations. You can:

• Mute a single conversation (useful for long-running threads where you only want to check in periodically).
• Choose immediate vs digest delivery per channel.
• Disable email entirely for a given event type.

You cannot disable in-app notifications — they are how the unread state on the dashboard works — but you can clear them in bulk from the bell menu.

Privacy and visibility

Conversations are visible only to the two participants — you and your manager. Specifically:

• Other employees cannot see your conversations.
• Other managers cannot see your conversations.
• Your skip-level manager (your manager's manager) cannot see your conversations.
• Org admins can see that conversations exist (counts, timestamps) for compliance and admin purposes, but they do not see message bodies in the normal app surface.

If your manager changes (you get reassigned, or your manager leaves the org), the conversation history follows the employee, not the manager. Your prior conversations remain in your account and are no longer accessible to your former manager. Your new manager does not automatically see prior conversations — they start fresh.

If your account is deactivated, conversations are retained for the org's data retention period and then deleted. Org admins control retention in Settings → Data Retention.

Editing and deleting messages

You can edit a message you sent within 15 minutes of sending it. After that the message is locked. To edit:

1. Hover over your message in the timeline.
2. Click the Edit icon.
3. Update the text and click Save.

Edited messages show an "Edited" indicator with a tooltip showing the timestamp.

You cannot delete messages, even your own. Conversations are designed as a written record, and deletion would compromise that record. If you sent something you regret, send a follow-up message clarifying or retracting.

Search

You can search across all your conversations from the global search bar, or from the Conversations page. Search matches:

• Conversation titles.
• Message body text.
• Author names.

Filters on the Conversations page let you narrow by:

• Status — Open, Resolved.
• Date range — last 7 / 30 / 90 days, or a custom range.
• Attribute — if the conversation has an attribute tag.

Search is scoped to conversations you are a participant in. You will not see results from other people's conversations.

Tips for getting the most out of conversations

• Reply with intent, not just acknowledgement. A simple "thanks" closes a loop but does not move the discussion forward. If you agree, say what you'll do next. If you disagree, say why.
• Use headings for long replies. A reply that covers three topics is easier to read with H3 headings than as one long paragraph.
• Resolve aggressively. A clean active list is more useful than a comprehensive one. If a topic is done, resolve it.
• Treat starters as a real prompt. Your manager invested time in choosing the question. A thoughtful reply — even three sentences — is more valuable than a rushed paragraph.
• Bring topics from your 1:1s here. If something came up verbally that you want a record of, write it up as a conversation. Future you will thank you.

Where to go next

• Your dashboard — the home view that surfaces unread conversations.
• Viewing your summaries — a different format for longer-form, periodic feedback.
• Tracking your objectives — many conversations end up referencing or updating an objective.

If a conversation feels like it should escalate beyond the two of you — for example a serious concern about how you are being managed — talk to your org admin or HR. The conversation tool is a productivity surface, not a formal complaints channel.