Best practices for narration and pacing

Companion captures how your work happens by watching your screen and listening as you go. The single biggest thing in your control — beyond just running it — is how you narrate and pace your work. Good narration turns silent clicks into a clear, well-labeled process. This page covers how to do that well.

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Why narration matters

Companion can see what you did on screen, but your narration is what explains the why — the decision behind a step, the exception you’re handling, the reason you switched systems. Sessions where the person talks through their work produce noticeably clearer, better-labeled processes than silent ones. You don’t need a script; you just need to think out loud.

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Narration best practices

• Say what you’re doing as you do it. “Now I’m pulling the invoice from NetSuite to check the PO number against it.” Narrate the action and the system in the same breath.
• Explain the why, not just the what. The click is visible; the reason isn’t. “I’m flagging this one because the amounts don’t match — that means it goes to the exceptions queue.”
• Call out decisions and branches. Whenever you make a judgment call, name it: “If the vendor’s new, I’d stop here and route for approval first.” This is how exception paths get captured.
• Name the systems and documents you touch by name, especially when you switch between them. It helps Companion tie the activity to the right tools.
• Flag the start and end of a task. A quick “okay, starting the monthly accrual review now” and “that completes it” gives clear boundaries between activities.

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Pacing best practices

• Work at your normal speed. Don’t rush or perform — Companion is built to observe real work. Going unnaturally fast or slow makes the capture less representative.
• Do the whole task, start to finish. Partial runs produce partial processes. If a process has a natural beginning and end, capture the full arc in one go.
• Don’t narrate over dead air. If you’re waiting on a load or a long-running job, it’s fine to say so and pause your commentary — you don’t need to fill silence.
• Favor longer, focused sessions. A continuous stretch of related work captures better than lots of short starts and stops, and Companion’s insights build up over the course of a longer session.

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What you don’t need to do

• You don’t need to narrate sensitive details. Companion automatically filters out personal, HR, and other sensitive content, and contributions are anonymized — but you also don’t need to read account numbers or names aloud. Narrate the process, not private data.
• You don’t need perfect grammar or a polished voice. Natural, conversational narration is exactly right. Companion is a partner, not an evaluator.
• You don’t need to explain things outside the process. Side conversations and off-task moments are filtered out — just return to narrating when you’re back on the task.

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Where to go next