Roles
Say who someone is to you, even when the answer is more than one thing.
On this page
A role answers a simple question about a person: who are they to you? People are often more than one thing. Ines Vargas can be a client at her company and also a friend. Theo Marchetti was your colleague for three years before he left. Groupthink lets a person hold several roles at once, and keeps the ones that have ended as history.
Where to find roles
Open any person's page. Roles is the first row in the About section on the right side of the page.
The person's main role shows as a small chip next to their name at the top of the page. The Roles row lists their other roles, so the main one isn't shown twice. A role that has ended is listed with Past: in front of it. If the main role is the only one, the row says No other roles. If the person has no roles yet, it says Not set.
Each role reads as one line: the role, then where, then the dates. For example, Client · at Northwind · since Mar 2024, or Past: Colleague · at Acme · Jan 2021 – Dec 2023.
Add a role
- Click the Roles row to open it.
- Click Add role.
- Pick a role from the Role list.
- Fill in the rest if you want to:
- Where (optional): a few words of context, such as "at Acme" or "from the climbing gym".
- Since and Until: when the role started and ended. Leave Until empty for a role that still applies.
- Main role (shown at the top): tick this to make it the role shown next to their name.
- Click Add, then Done when you've finished.
When the person has no main role, Main role (shown at the top) starts ticked, so the role you add becomes the main one unless you untick it. That is how the first role you give someone becomes their main role.
A role offered from your note
When you log a note on someone that says where they work or what they are to you, such as "Coffee with Priya Shah from Lumen Health. She's VP Ops.", Groupthink reads the note and offers what it found on the person's page, a few seconds after the note is saved:
VP Ops at Lumen Health From your note. Nothing changes until you add it. Add · Not right
When Groupthink can point to the sentence in your note that it read, the second line quotes that sentence after From your note.
- Add puts the role on their record. If the note said where they work but not who they are to you, Groupthink first asks you to pick a role from the same list, then adds it.
- Not right removes the offer. The same one isn't made again.
Nothing is added to their roles until you click Add. The offer only appears for someone who has no current role.
A note that isn't logged on anyone, such as one you save in onboarding with Continue without picking, also offers where each person it names works. That offer can have only the company, for example at Lumen Health. If you then pick the person the note was with, the offer is updated with their title when the note gives one, such as VP Ops at Lumen Health. An offer you already turned down isn't made again.
The roles you can choose
The Role list is grouped into Personal and Work, in this order:
| Role | Group | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Significant other | Personal | A spouse or partner |
| Family | Personal | Parents, siblings, children, extended family |
| Friend | Personal | A real friendship, not a professional acquaintance |
| Acquaintance | Personal | Someone you know but aren't close to, like a neighbor |
| Client | Work | A customer, client, or founder you're serving |
| Colleague | Work | A collaborator at roughly your level |
| Direct report | Work | Someone you manage |
| External contact | Work | A vendor, advisor, investor, or outside contact |
A role is separate from a job title. Someone can be an engineer and also your significant other, and Groupthink shows both.
Change or remove a role
Click the Roles row to open it. Every role is listed, including the main one, which has a Main tag.
- Change a role: click the pencil next to it, edit any field, and click Save.
- Remove a role: click the x next to it.
Click Done to close the list.
When someone's role ends, you don't have to remove it. Set an Until date instead and it stays on their page as a past role. When Theo moves to a new company, set Until on Colleague · at Acme and the history is kept.
The main role
The main role is the one shown next to the person's name at the top of their page. It's optional, and a person has at most one.
On their prep card in Today, and in the prep for a meeting they're in, you see every role the person holds today. The main role comes first as a filled chip, and the others follow as outlined chips. Each one shows where, if you set it: Client · at Northwind, then Friend. Past roles and roles that haven't started aren't shown there.
- Only a role that applies today can be the main one. To end the main role, untick Main role (shown at the top) when you set its Until date in the past. If you leave it ticked, Groupthink says Only a role that applies today can be the main one. and doesn't save.
- If you remove the main role, the person has no main role until you pick one. Groupthink doesn't choose a new one for you.
- To switch, open the role you want, tick Main role (shown at the top), and click Save. The old main role stays on the list as an ordinary role.
A few rules
- A person can't hold the same current role twice in the same place. Ines can be a Client at Northwind and a Client at Fabrikam, but not a Client at Northwind twice. Groupthink tells you This person already has that role.
- The same role can repeat as history. Someone can have been your colleague at two different companies.
- A role can't end before it starts. If Until is earlier than Since, Groupthink asks you to fix the dates before saving.
How roles change your prep
Groupthink writes a short talking point for each person you're meeting, the kind of line that helps you open a conversation. That talking point is written for a work setting, and Groupthink can't tell from your calendar whether Saturday's farmers market is with a colleague or with your spouse.
If any of a person's current roles is personal (Significant other, Family, Friend, or Acquaintance), Groupthink turns the talking point off for them. It doesn't matter which role is the main one. If Ines is a Client and also a Friend, she gets no work talking point.
- On Today, their prep card leaves the talking point out and shows a short line saying there's no talking point because this one is personal.
- The Daily Brief email leaves it out too.
- The talking point still appears on the person's own page, under What we know. Only the meeting prep drops it.
People with only work roles, and people with no roles, keep their talking point. A personal role that has ended doesn't turn it off.
How roles change drafts
When you use Draft outreach, the person's current roles nudge the tone of the draft. Significant other, Family, and Friend lean casual and warm, Acquaintance and Direct report lean warm, and Client and External contact lean professional. Colleague doesn't change the tone, and neither does having no roles.
Every role that applies today counts, and it doesn't matter which one is the main role. If Ines is a Client and also a Friend, her drafts get the friend's warmth. Where a close personal role and a work role pull in different directions, as Friend (casual) and Client (professional) do, the personal role wins: her drafts lean casual. A role that has ended doesn't count.
These are light defaults: any tone you've set for that person yourself takes priority.
Older contacts marked "Personal"
Before the personal choices were split into four, there was a single Personal role. Contacts that still have it keep it, and it still counts as personal, so their talking point stays off. You can't pick Personal for anyone new. To be more specific, click the pencil next to it and choose one of the four personal roles.