Smart Nudges

Tickr proactively reminds people to update tasks with priority-weighted nudges, grace periods, and follow-up cycles.

Smart Nudges are Tickr's core accountability mechanism. Instead of relying on people to check a board, Tickr proactively reminds assignees about their open tasks — right inside Slack. All nudges are delivered as private DMs — each person only sees their own tasks, with a clickable channel link so they know where to go.

Schedule

Each channel has its own configurable schedule. The defaults are:

Time (local)	Day	Action
9:30 AM	Weekdays	Slip check — scores tasks for risk (Max plan)
10:00 AM	Weekdays	Main nudge cycle — checks all boards
10:30 AM	Weekdays	Follow-up for non-responders (Max plan)
5:00 PM	Weekdays	Second follow-up for non-responders (Max plan)

Times are in the channel's configured timezone. Use /tickr schedule to customize nudge times, nudge days, follow-up times, and slip check timing per channel. Use /tickr config timezone to set the channel timezone.

💡 Customize your schedule

Every channel can have its own schedule. Use /tickr schedule to open a configuration modal where you can set timezone, nudge times, nudge days, follow-up windows, and slip check timing. For example, a team might configure nudges only on Mon/Wed/Fri, disable evening follow-ups, or run slip checks on Monday and Thursday only.

What gets nudged

Tickr evaluates every active (open, in_progress, blocked) task and decides whether to nudge based on four checks:

Snooze check

Snoozed tasks are skipped entirely until the snooze expires. See Snooze System below.

Grace period

New tasks aren't nudged immediately. The grace period is 50% of the estimated time, clamped between 2 and 48 hours. Default is 24 hours when no estimate is provided. The priority multiplier applies — critical tasks have shorter grace periods.

Recent activity

Tasks with recent updates are skipped. The interval between nudges is 25% of estimated time, clamped between 8 and 48 hours, multiplied by the priority factor. Default interval is 24 hours.

Due date urgency

Overrides the normal interval when deadlines are near:

Overdue — nudge every 8 hours
Due within 3 days — nudge every 12 hours (or less, based on priority)

Priority multipliers

Higher-priority tasks get nudged more aggressively:

Priority	Nudge multiplier	Effect
Critical	0.25x	4x more aggressive than normal
High	0.5x	2x more aggressive
Medium	1.0x	Normal cadence
Low	1.5x	Less frequent

This means a critical task with a 24-hour default interval gets nudged every 6 hours, while a low-priority task gets nudged every 36 hours.

Nudge message format

Each person receives a private DM listing only their tasks, with a link to the channel:

Update time! These tasks in #project-alpha need your attention:

  OVERDUE  *Fix login crash* (in_progress)
  Due soon  *API migration* (open)

Reply in #project-alpha or use /tickr update <task_id> <status>.

Priority badges appear for critical and high tasks. Urgency prefixes (OVERDUE, Due soon) highlight time-sensitive items. The #channel-name links are clickable, taking you directly to the channel.

Blocked task nudges

When a task is blocked, Tickr nudges the blocker instead of the assignee:

  • *API integration* — @dave, you're blocking this!

See Blockers for the full blocked workflow.

Follow-up nudges (Max plan)

If someone doesn't respond to the morning nudge, follow-up cycles at 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM send individual, AI-generated playful DMs. Each follow-up includes a clickable channel link so the person knows where to go. The AI varies its style and gets progressively more playful with each follow-up:

First follow-up (10:30 AM) — Friendly reminder with channel reference
Second follow-up (5:00 PM) — Extra playful ("they missed the first nudge!")

Urgency context is included — the AI knows if tasks are overdue or due soon.

Snooze system

Temporarily pause nudge reminders for a task.

/tickr snooze <task_id> <hours>

Pause nudges for a specific task.

Hours can be decimal (e.g., 2.5).

Via @mention:

@Tickr snooze the checkout task for 4 hours

@Tickr pause reminders on the database task for a day

Snooze caps by priority

Snooze duration is capped based on task priority:

Priority	Maximum snooze
Critical	4 hours
High	24 hours
Medium	1 week (168 hours)
Low	1 week (168 hours)
Any overdue task	2 hours (regardless of priority)

If you request more than the cap, Tickr snoozes for the maximum allowed and tells you:

Snoozed for 4h (capped from 24h due to critical priority).

⚠️ Overdue cap

Overdue tasks are capped at 2 hours regardless of priority. This ensures overdue work stays visible.