Glossary

The language of relationships.

Three vocabularies overlap here. One describes how relationships work: warm introductions, dormant ties, Dunbar’s number. One describes how software holds them now that an AI assistant reads and writes the record: the Model Context Protocol, cross-agent memory, provenance, write arbitration, prompt injection, on-device AI. The third is about time, because a relationship you never scheduled is one you meant to keep: time blocking, task batching, the planning fallacy.

Each term is defined the way practitioners use it.

Relationships

The human patterns behind keeping a network alive: ties, trust, reciprocity, and introductions.

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Agent memory

The software vocabulary for a record that assistants can read, cite, and propose changes to.

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Planning

The practical language of protecting attention for the people and work that matter.

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Cold outreachDormant tieDouble opt-in introductionDunbar's numberFollow-up cadenceIntroduction etiquetteNetwork mappingReciprocityRelationship capitalRelationship managementTouchpointWarm introductionAgent-nativeCross-agent memoryHuman in the loopModel Context Protocol (MCP)On-device AIPersonal CRMPrompt injectionProvenanceRelationship memoryWrite arbitrationDeep workPlanning fallacyTask batchingTime blockingTime budget

How relationships work

terms

Cold outreach

Cold outreach is contacting someone you have no prior relationship with, by email, LinkedIn or DM. It is the opposite of a warm intro, and converts worse.

Dormant tie

A dormant tie is a relationship that has gone quiet: someone you were once close to and have not spoken to in a long time, where the trust is still there.

Double opt-in introduction

A double opt-in introduction is one where the connector asks both people first, so nobody is put on the spot and either side can decline gracefully.

Dunbar's number

Dunbar's number is the theory that a person can maintain about 150 stable relationships at once, a cognitive ceiling on the size of an active network.

Follow-up cadence

A follow-up cadence is how often you reach out to keep a relationship warm, tiered by closeness: monthly for the closest, quarterly and yearly further out.

Introduction etiquette

Introduction etiquette is the unwritten rules for making and asking for introductions: permission first, a forwardable blurb, and an easy out for both.

Network mapping

Network mapping is laying out who you know and how they connect, turning a flat contact list into a graph that shows paths, clusters and warm intro routes.

Reciprocity

Reciprocity is the social norm of returning a favor: the give and take, over time, that keeps a relationship balanced instead of quietly one-sided.

Relationship capital

Relationship capital is the trust and goodwill you have built across your network: an asset you can draw on, and one that depletes if you neglect it.

Relationship management

Relationship management is the practice of deliberately maintaining and growing your relationships, instead of reaching out only when you need something.

Touchpoint

A touchpoint is one meaningful interaction with someone in your network: a message, a call, a coffee. It is the unit a relationship is actually built from.

Warm introduction

A warm introduction is being connected to someone by a mutual contact who vouches for you, rather than reaching out cold. Trust travels with the connector.

How software holds them

terms

Agent-native

Agent-native describes software whose main interface is an AI agent, not a screen: you work in a conversation and the product holds the data behind it.

Cross-agent memory

Cross-agent memory is durable context more than one AI assistant can read and write, held in a store none of them own, so switching tools scatters nothing.

Human in the loop

Human in the loop means an automated system proposes an action or a fact and a person approves it before it takes effect, rather than acting on its own.

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets an AI assistant connect to an outside system and use its data and tools over one interface.

On-device AI

On-device AI is machine learning that runs on the user's own phone or computer rather than on a server, so the data being processed stays on the machine.

Personal CRM

A personal CRM is software for managing your own relationships: who you know, what you talked about, and when to follow up. It is a CRM for one person.

Prompt injection

Prompt injection is an attack that hides instructions inside content an AI will read, so the model treats a third party's text as its own user's request.

Provenance

Provenance is the record of where a piece of information came from, kept attached to that information so it can be checked later rather than trusted.

Relationship memory

Relationship memory is a structured record of the people you know, held outside any one app or AI assistant, so whatever tool you use next can read it.

Write arbitration

Write arbitration is the set of rules a data store applies when something wants to change it: who may write, where a write lands, who settles conflicts.

How time gets planned

terms

Deep work

Deep work is sustained concentration on a demanding task with no switching, and the usual name for the state that cognitively valuable work requires.

Planning fallacy

The planning fallacy is the tendency to estimate your own work from the best case, and to keep doing it after every previous estimate came in short.

Task batching

Task batching is grouping similar work and running it in one go, so the cost of switching between kinds of work is paid once instead of a dozen times.

Time blocking

Time blocking is scheduling work as appointments on a calendar, so each piece of work has a time it happens instead of a position in a list.

Time budget

A time budget is an amount of time you owe a kind of work over a period, such as eight hours of deep work a week. It reserves no particular slot.

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