It usually starts with one person. Someone in ops tries Bob, he clears a week of busywork in an afternoon, and by Friday three other teams want him too. Then the owner asks the question every owner asks: if everyone can use this thing, what stops it from messaging a customer it should not, or working inside somebody’s inbox without asking? That question is what AI employee permissions are for, and it’s the part most small companies skip until something goes wrong.
You don’t need a governance committee. You need a few plain controls an admin can set in minutes, and an AI teammate that follows them every time. Here are the ones HeyBob gives you.
Start with who can use Bob at all
By default, everyone in your workspace can use Bob, Slack guests included. That’s the right default for most teams. When it isn’t, an admin can switch to a list on the Settings page: only the people they tick, plus admins, who can always use him.
Anyone left off the list who messages Bob, presses one of his buttons or types /bob gets one sentence telling them to ask an admin. Bob does no work for them and spends no credits on them. A separate switch covers Slack guests, so contractors can be kept out without touching anyone else.
An admin can also just ask Bob in chat, say “turn guests off”. Bob shows a card with who can use him now and who could after. Nothing changes until an admin approves it, and the Activity page records who did. A member who asks is turned down.
Decide who Bob may message directly
By default Bob may start a direct message with anybody in the workspace. An admin can limit that to the people they tick. After that, Bob refuses to start a direct message with anyone else, refuses a group message that reaches anyone else, and says plainly that you haven’t allowed it. Two things are never limited: messages into channels, and replies in a direct message someone started with Bob. If a schedule or reminder would deliver into a direct message with someone off the list, it doesn’t run, and its owner is told why in their own direct message.
Approvals before anything changes
The core rule hasn’t changed: Bob reads on his own and asks before he changes anything in your apps. Sending an email, adding a calendar invite, updating a customer record: each pauses on an approval card with four buttons, Approve, Edit, Deny and Always allow. The approvals help page has the full detail, including the one exception for Slack messages in a job a person started.
Two recent changes make those cards easier to trust when lots of people are pressing them.
- An edited card says what will actually happen. When someone uses Edit to fix a detail, the headline now describes the corrected action. Always allow comes off, and the card says why: Approve runs the edited version once.
- Some cards can never become standing. Changing who may use Bob, or changing the house rules Bob follows on every run, always gets its own card. Always allow there makes that one change and says so, but never skips the next card.
For cards that send something outward, an admin can name who may approve. The receipt under the finished job records who approved what.
A teammate’s account stays theirs
Sometimes the work lives in one person’s own mailbox, calendar or customer records. Bob doesn’t reach in. He sends that teammate a direct message saying what he would do and for whom. Allow lets him work in their account for that one task, and anything that actually sends still comes back to them for a yes. Deny keeps him out, and he carries on with the rest of the job. Only that teammate can answer, and an admin can switch the whole feature off. More on this in teammates and permissions.
Private spaces stay private
Bob already reads a private channel, direct message or group message only for the people who are in it, and tells anyone else plainly that he can’t.
Private channels are coming to the HeyBob app too, and the rules for them are already in place. Only members will see a private channel, read it, post in it or be added to it, and nobody can join one by themselves. Schedules and incoming email or webhook automations that post there are hidden from non-members, who can’t see, change or pause them. Bob’s memory of a private channel doesn’t leak into answers for people outside it. Admins still see every automation in the console, the same way they see every schedule today.
Fewer nags about broken connections
Connections expire. Bob used to mention a dead connection even when your question had nothing to do with it. Now he asks you to reconnect only when the job in front of him actually needs that app. Ask about your calendar while an old sales tool connection is broken, and you get your calendar answer with no detour.
A connections page that knows your team
The Connections page, in the console and in the HeyBob app, now has a Recommended for your team list: apps that keep coming up in your conversations that you haven’t connected yet. It shows up to six. An app needs at least three mentions to appear, and anything you or the company already connected is left out.
It respects the same privacy lines as everything else. Your list only counts conversations you can read: your own direct messages with Bob, channels you’re a member of, and places you asked Bob for something. Only app names and counts are kept. No message text is stored for this. The list refreshes once a week, so a brand new workspace shows nothing until the first refresh.
A console that matches the job
The HeyBob console now groups its pages in a sidebar: Work, Knowledge, Connect, Oversight, Team and billing, and Settings. Members see the pages for their own work. Oversight, with approvals, policies and the activity log, is for admins. On a small screen the same groups open in a drawer.
A rollout checklist
- Install Bob and decide who else should be an admin on the Users page.
- Choose who can use Bob: everyone, or a list. Decide on Slack guests.
- Choose who Bob may message directly.
- On the Policies page, set which apps run without asking, which ask, and which are refused. Name who may approve outward sends.
- Decide whether Bob may ask teammates to work in their own accounts.
- Set a spending cap so a busy month has a ceiling.
One limit: these settings govern Bob, not your apps. A connected account still has whatever access it has. And like any AI, Bob can be wrong, which is why the cards exist.
Common questions
Can I stop some people in my company from using Bob?
Yes. An admin can switch from everyone to a list on the Settings page, or ask Bob in chat and approve his card. People off the list are told to ask an admin, and Bob spends no credits on them.
Can Bob message anyone in the company on his own?
By default, yes. An admin can limit direct messages to chosen people, and Bob refuses the rest and says why. Channels and replies are not limited.
What happens when someone edits an approval card?
The card updates to describe the corrected action. Always allow is removed, and the card explains that Approve runs the edited version once. No standing rule is created from an edited card.
Does Bob work in a teammate’s email without asking?
No. He sends that teammate a direct message first. Allow covers that one task, and anything that sends still comes back to them for approval. Only that teammate can answer.
How does Bob decide which apps to recommend?
Once a week he counts app names in conversations you can read and suggests up to six you have not connected. Only names and counts are kept.
If you are planning a rollout, add Bob to Slack or get the HeyBob app, set the controls above, and hand him a first job. Related reading: the AI agent approval workflow playbook, what an AI agent audit trail should record, and credits and spending caps.