What's a Pulse?

A pulse is a very short survey, three or four questions, that appears in the bottom-right of your browser when one comes due. It takes about thirty seconds.

Why "pulse" and not "survey"

Surveys are the long, dread-filled form your organisation sends you once a year. We didn't want to build that. A pulse is closer to the heart-rate idea: a brief check-in that comes round on a regular beat, asks only what's necessary, and is over in half a minute.

What it asks

It branches based on your first answer.

If you used the tool today, you'll see:

1. Did you use {tool} today? (yes)
2. Roughly how much time did {tool} save you today? (None, up to 30 mins, 30 to 60 mins, 1 to 2 hours, more than 2 hours, or "I lost time because of it")
3. How well did {tool} perform for your tasks today? (a slider from 1, useless, to 10, outstanding)
4. Anything to add about {tool} today? (optional free text, most people skip)

If you didn't use it today, you'll see:

1. Did you use {tool} today? (no)
2. What's the main reason you didn't use {tool} today? (didn't need it, forgot it was available, too slow or clunky, didn't trust its output, couldn't access it, prefer a different tool)
3. Anything to add? (optional)

That's it. Three questions if you didn't use it, four if you did.

How often you'll see it, and what brings it up

Each pulse runs on a cadence your organisation sets. The standard AI Pulse is three times a week per tool; the AI Review is fortnightly and the AI Capability Check monthly.

Those fires are spread evenly across the period, at a moment picked for you inside each slice of it, kept at least 30 minutes apart, and held inside working hours (Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4pm unless your organisation sets its own window). The timing is worked out on your own machine, so the same schedule survives a browser restart.

What brings a pulse up is that clock, not a website. Visiting ChatGPT doesn't summon one, and you never need to be on a tool's site to be asked about it. When a pulse comes due it appears on whatever page you have open at the time, apart from your browser's own pages (chrome:// settings, the Chrome Web Store), where extensions can't draw anything.

You don't have to answer every time

Close a pulse with the × in its top corner and it goes quiet for a week, sitting in the extension's toolbar popup in case you change your mind. Snooze or skip offers the same thing plus a short delay: 15 minutes, or 1, 2, 3 or 4 hours. There's no penalty either way.

A scheduled pulse you never got to is dropped after 24 hours rather than saved up, so a week away doesn't leave a queue of them waiting. That said, if you skip every pulse, the data your organisation gets becomes less useful, which is what they're trying to avoid in the first place. Even one or two answers a week makes a meaningful difference.

Why the questions are bucketed (not free-form)

You'll notice the time-saved question gives you choices like "Up to 30 mins today", "30-60 mins today" and "1-2 hours today", rather than asking for a precise number. That's deliberate. Nobody actually knows precisely how much time they saved, and asking for a number invites people to over- or under-claim. Buckets are easy to pick, hard to get wrong, and aggregate cleanly.

Why "I lost time because of it" is an option

Because sometimes a tool wastes your morning rather than saving it. We genuinely want that data. It's how the company learns which tools to drop. There's no judgement attached to picking it.

A note on the free-text comment

Your name is never shown next to your comment. Admins see comments anonymously. The text only, with no attribution. But if the comment itself identifies you (e.g. "as the only person on the finance team who uses Claude…"), the words themselves can give you away.

Rule of thumb: keep the comment about the tool, not about your specific situation. Short, tool-focused comments are the most useful anyway. If you'd like to be sure you can't be identified, the best move is to not write anything in the comment field at all. It's entirely optional.

See Who sees my answers? for the full privacy picture.

Related: Welcome: what is The GAiGE? · Who sees my answers? · Will my answers affect my performance review?