07 Playbook 2: Reading & Research

Tom S
Updated

Stop reading everything. Read what matters. This is one of the 11 Playbook categories. Each play below is a single move you can run right now, tagged by effort. Filter to the quick ones if you are just getting started.

PLAYBOOK 2
Reading & Research

Stop reading everything; read what matters

 

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What is a play?

A play is a single move you can run in Smith right now: one prompt, one result. Each is tagged by effort so you can pick the quick wins first. Plays are grouped into 11 categories; this article is one of them. For multi-step workflows that combine several moves, see the Recipes.

The Plays

Each card is one play. The badge shows the effort: Quick is a single prompt, Few steps adds a little setup, and Setup is a build-once move that pays off repeatedly.

Filter by effort: Showing all items
"Explain like I have 5 minutes"Quick

Do: Paste a dense doc: "plain-English version, plus what it means for me."

Get: The gist and the so-what, fast

Any model
"What changed?" doc comparisonFew steps

Do: Upload two versions of a document: "what's different, and what actually matters?"

Get: Redline-level awareness without reading both

Workspace
Source-tracing across many filesFEATUREDFew steps

Do: Drop a pile of documents into one chat, ask a question that spans them, get your answer, then ask "which specific file did that figure come from?" Smith points you to the exact source.

Get: Confidence you can trace any claim back to the right document in a stack of dozens

Citations + Workspace
Extract just the numbersQuick

Do: "Pull every figure, metric, and date into a table."

Get: The data, freed from the prose around it

Any model
Find the buried riskFew steps

Do: "What in this contract or document should worry me?"

Get: The clause you'd have missed, surfaced

Any model
Compare several documents at onceFew steps

Do: Select a folder: "compare these proposals on price, timeline, and risk."

Get: A side-by-side you didn't have to build

Workspace
Turn a long PDF into an FAQFew steps

Do: Upload it: "generate the 10 questions people will ask, and answer them."

Get: A ready reference others can use too

Workspace
Skim a research paperQuick

Do: "Give me the abstract in plain English, the method, and whether it's credible."

Get: Research literacy without the slog

Any model

See It in Action

Here is one of these plays running, so you know what to expect before you try it yourself.

🔍Reading and research

Trace a number back to its file

Drop a stack of documents in one chat, get an answer, then ask where a figure came from.

Next Steps: Pick one Quick play and run it today. When single moves feel natural, the Recipes show how to chain them into repeatable workflows. Working through your first month? The First 30 Days plan tells you which plays to use each week.

Playbook 3: Inbox, Teams & Communications

The next category of single-move plays.

Learning Tracks

Not sure which plays to try first? Follow a guided path by effort level.

Smith Recipes

Ready to combine plays into multi-step workflows?

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