Getting started
Asking Next
Open Next beside any page to ask questions about your work and, where it can help, have it carry out actions for you.
Next is the AI assistant built into Paradym Next. Beside any page, it can answer questions about what you are looking at, summarise lists, find records and suggest what to do first. In some areas it can also prepare actions — such as promoting or parking a cluster — that run only when you confirm them.
For longer conversations, or to work with your own files, use My Workspace.
Open Next
Use any of these:
- Select the Next button at the top right of the top bar. Hover over it to see which chat it opens.
- In search, type your question and choose Ask … about “your question”.
On a desktop, Next opens as a panel on the right of the page. On a phone, it opens full screen.
A chat for each section
In most workspaces, each section of the sidebar has its own chat with its own history. Moving between pages in the same section keeps the same chat — for example, the Inbox and Portfolio share the Planning chat.
| Chat | Good for questions like… |
|---|---|
| Planning | “What needs triage first?”, “Which ideas look like duplicates?” |
| Delivery | “What is waiting in intake?”, “Which projects are at risk?” |
| Reporting | “What changed most this month?” |
| My Tasks | “What should I do first?” |
| Submissions | “Where have my ideas got to?” |
| Product Management | “Which objectives have no initiative?” |
| Support | “Which tickets are close to breaching?” |
| Context & Agents | “What does this pack do?” |
| Governance | “What does this setting change?” |
| Administration | “Who can approve reviews?” |
Every chat also answers “What can you do here?”.
What Next can see
Next sees the page you are on, the records in that section that you are allowed to access, and any files you add. It never sees more than you can.
Above the message box, the Attached to your next message tray shows exactly what goes with your message:
| Chip | What it sends |
|---|---|
| Page | Which page you are on. This is always sent. |
| Record | The record you have open, such as a cluster or portfolio item. A dashed border means the page attached it for you — “this” in your message refers to it. |
| Selection | The rows you have ticked, shown as “N selected”. |
| List | The list you are looking at, with its filters and sort, shown as “Page list · N shown”. |
| This chat’s files | Files you have added to this chat. They are not shared with My Workspace or other chats. |
Select a chip to see exactly what it sends. Select × to leave it out of your next message, and select it again to put it back.
Ask a question
- Type your question in the message box.
- To add a file, select + and choose Add to this chat.
- Send the message.
Under each answer you may see:
- Looked at: links to the records Next read to answer you.
- Up to three suggested follow-up questions.
- Ask in the … chat →, when your question belongs to another section.
- “Answered from part of the page — not everything fitted in one message”, when the page held more than Next could read at once. Narrow the list or select specific rows, then ask again.
Let Next carry out an action
In some chats, Next can prepare an action for you — for example, in the Planning chat it can Promote to portfolio, Park, Reject or Set impact type for a cluster. It never acts on its own.
An action appears as a card that shows:
- what will happen, and to which records,
- any side effects — for example, that submitters will be notified,
- any warnings, and Next’s reasoning (Why (from the assistant)),
- a badge: Needs your OK, or Can’t be undone for actions that cannot be reversed.
To act on the card:
- Fill in anything the card asks for, such as Choose a person.
- Select the action button, for example Promote. For actions that can’t be undone, confirm with Yes, ….
- Or select Edit… to open the full dialog and adjust the details yourself, or Dismiss to cancel.
When the action is done, the card shows a tick and a summary, with Open and, where possible, Undo. An action card that is left too long, or that the conversation has moved past, is not run — ask again if you still want it.
You can only carry out actions your role allows. Next cannot give you extra permissions.
Manage your chats
- Select New … chat to start a fresh conversation. Earlier chats are kept.
- Open the history to return to one of your last ten chats in that section.
- Select Widen the chat for more room, or Close the chat to hide the panel.
Good to know
- Next can be wrong. Check important facts using the Looked at links before you act on them.
- If you see “You don’t have access to the … chat”, your role does not include that section.
- If you see “This page isn’t part of a section, so it has no section chat”, select Open My Workspace to ask your question there.