A busy inbox means deciding what needs attention, what can wait, who owns it and what you may change. Practice those decisions here.
Created by StayHomeHire for independent practice. The team, messages and rules below are fictional. This is not a real employer assessment or a hiring opportunity. You can complete it in a plain document without signing up for anything.
Your assignment
It is Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. You are covering a fictional team’s operations inbox until noon. All times use the same team clock. Morgan is the team lead. A client meeting is still scheduled for 10:00 a.m.
You may share existing approved documents with approved attendees and send routine reminders. You cannot approve payments, change bank details, approve draft documents or move a client meeting without the organizer’s confirmation. Send payment questions to Finance through the established internal channel. These are rules for this exercise.
Spend 20 minutes writing a priority plan, two internal messages and a handoff note. For every item, record its owner, next action and next check time. Where information is missing, write the question you would ask.
The nine messages
- A · 8:31 · Teammate: “I’m attending the 10:00 client meeting, but Agenda-v3 says access denied. Could you help?”
- B · 8:34 · Morgan: “Please give the approved attendees read-only access to Agenda-v3 by 9:30. It is the approved version.”
- C · 8:39 · Supplier: “Our bank details changed. Please update them before paying invoice W-104.” No internal verification is recorded.
- D · 8:42 · Meeting organizer: “We may move the client meeting to 11:00. Waiting for the client to confirm.”
- E · 8:45 · Teammate: “I added notes to Agenda-v4-DRAFT. Should I send that instead?”
- F · 8:47 · New starter: “My orientation starts at 9:20, but I cannot find the joining instructions.” The approved welcome folder contains them.
- G · 8:50 · Supplier: “Attached is invoice W-104, due Friday.” The invoice register already lists W-104 for Friday.
- H · 8:54 · Supplier: “Sending W-104 again in case the first copy did not arrive.”
- I · 8:58 · Newsletter: “Our office-supplies sale ends Friday.” No purchase has been requested.
Pause here and write your plan before reading the worked example. You do not need to reply to everything in arrival order. Explain your decisions using the deadlines and authority limits.
A worked priority plan
This is one defensible sequence. Other orders can work if they protect the same deadlines and ownership. The times are planned actions.
| Order | Messages | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | C | Flag the unverified bank-change request to Finance immediately. Make no change. Record who owns verification. |
| 2 | F | Send the approved joining instructions before 9:20; ask the starter to confirm access. |
| 3 | A + B | Check the approved attendee list and grant read-only Agenda-v3 access before 9:30. Confirm with the affected teammate. |
| 4 | D | Ask the organizer for confirmation by 9:35; check again at 9:45. Keep the current 10:00 calendar entry until confirmed. |
| 5 | E | Explain that v3 remains approved. Send the draft question to Morgan; do not circulate v4 as final. |
| 6 | G + H | Match both messages to W-104. Route one invoice record to Finance by 11:00, preserving the duplicate reference. |
| 7 | I | Archive or file the newsletter. No action is required in this scenario. |
Why those choices work
The bank-change message gets an early handoff because it asks for an action outside your authority. You do not need to decide whether it is fraudulent. Your task is to preserve the request and make Finance’s responsibility visible. An urgent subject line does not create approval.
The new starter has the nearest confirmed deadline. The two agenda messages then become one task: Morgan’s instruction supplies the approved version and access level, while the teammate’s message identifies the problem. Finish by checking whether the access change worked.
A possible meeting move is not a confirmed change. Asking the organizer a narrow question prevents you from inventing a decision. The draft agenda has the same issue: a newer filename does not override Morgan’s approval of v3.
The second invoice email is not a second bill. Match the reference before creating another task. Keep enough record for Finance to see that the second message was a resend. The newsletter can wait without blocking anyone.
Write two messages that move the work forward
To the meeting organizer: “The calendar still shows 10:00. Has the client confirmed 11:00? I will leave the current invitation in place until you confirm. Please update me by 9:35; I will check again at 9:45.”
To Morgan: “Agenda-v3 is the approved version. I am arranging read-only access for the approved attendees by 9:30. A teammate has offered v4-DRAFT. Should the notes stay in draft for now, or would you like to review them before anything else is shared?”
Separate work in progress from completed work. Write “Access is set” only after the simulated task and access check are complete.
Leave a handoff someone can use
Replace each bracket with a fact from your plan. Waiting items need an owner and next check.
- Completed: [Message ID, action and confirmation received.]
- Waiting: [Message ID, missing decision, person responsible and next check time.]
- Not changed: [Payment details, meeting time or document version awaiting approval.]
- Next deadline: [Time, task and what the next person should do.]
Example at 9:45, assuming these practice actions were completed: “Starter confirmed the joining instructions. Approved attendees can open Agenda-v3 read-only. Organizer has not confirmed a move, so the meeting remains at 10:00; contact the organizer now. Morgan owns the v4 decision. Finance has the bank-change request; no details were changed. W-104 is recorded once, with the resend noted; invoice handoff is due by 11:00.”
Review your sample
Score each item 0 for missing, 1 for partly clear, or 2 for clear. The score is a revision tool, not an employer’s pass mark.
- Coverage: All nine messages have a recorded disposition.
- Priorities: The 9:20 and 9:30 deadlines are protected.
- Judgment: Payment, meeting and draft approvals stay with the right owners.
- Accuracy: The approved version and duplicate invoice are handled correctly.
- Handoff: Pending decisions have an owner and next check; planned actions are not presented as finished.
Revise the weakest part, then save your document as “Independent admin practice: fictional inbox triage.” If you share it, include that label and explain the exercise. Do not present it as client work, paid employment or a real business result.
Keep real employer emails, customer records, attachments and login details out of your sample. Use the fictional information here, or create fresh fictional details of your own.
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