time-sensitive-sequence

• SKILL.mdcore · 5,228 bytes
• references/copy-examples.mddoc · 5,782 bytes
• references/cutoff-rules.mddoc · 2,782 bytes
• references/kill-job.mddoc · 1,893 bytes
• references/platform-assumptions.mddoc · 3,428 bytes

Applies when a message becomes wrong or useless after a specific moment. Produces sequences plus a scheduled kill that ends them at that moment.

A sequence has no end date. Steps run on waits, and a LinkedIn message can sit for days waiting for a connection to be accepted. Left alone, a pre-event sequence sends "let's meet next week" during event week, and a dinner invite lands after the dinner. The cure has two halves: plan the cadence backwards from the cutoff, and schedule a kill that catches whatever is still alive at the cutoff.

## The play

1. **Set the cutoff.** The cutoff is the earlier of two moments: when the copy stops being true, and the last moment an invite is still useful for this kind of event. Read `references/cutoff-rules.md` for the rules by copy phrase and event type. State the cutoff as a date, time and timezone.
2. **Check what the platform can do.** Confirm the six capabilities and look up the seven numbers in `references/platform-assumptions.md`. If a capability is missing, use its fallback there, not a guess.
3. **Check feasibility.** Work out when the first message can go out and when the last step can run inside the sending window. Divide contacts by daily limits per inbox and add what already waits in the queue. If the list cannot clear before the cutoff, cut the list or add an inbox. Do not build sequences that mostly die in the queue.
4. **Choose channels.** Use both LinkedIn and email when there is time, because they reach different people. Drop LinkedIn when the cutoff is too close for a connection to be accepted and a message to follow. Drop email for people who only respond on LinkedIn. Decide per event and per list, and say why.
5. **Plan the cadence backwards.** Place the last step at least one sending window before the cutoff, with short waits of one to two days. Write copy that is true right up to the cutoff: real dates and times, never "next week" or "this Thursday" unless the cutoff rules say it is safe. Read `references/copy-examples.md` for real event copy and which phrases in it go stale.
6. **Make one group per event.** Three dinners means three groups, three cutoffs, three kill jobs. Never mix cutoffs in one group, because the kill stops the whole group. Put the cutoff in the group's description.
7. **Build the sequences** in the group, in the event's timezone. Leave them for approval unless the owner explicitly said to send automatically.
8. **Arm the kill job before you call it done.** Read `references/kill-job.md` for the schedule and the hand-off instructions. If you cannot arm it, say so first and do not approve or send.