Checklist for Virtual/Executive Assistant Playbook

Comprehensive list of centralized information to set your assistant up for success.

Assistant working on something important. :)

Setting clear expectations is key to a having a successful assistant. To ensure quick onboarding, healthy communication, and a lasting relationship, I established an EA (Executive Assistant) Playbook. The playbook provides centralized storage of key information, links, preferences, and rituals.

The following information is not my specific EA Playbook. It is the high-level categories I’ve compiled over years of streamlining my working relationship with a variety of assistants. It has significantly reduced the need for me to repeat myself during specific tasks and reduced the overall confusion for assistants.

Philosophy

As you review, there are three important philosophical beliefs that guided the creation of this checklist. They are strongly help opinions but aren’t requirements to finding this guide useful.

First, my assistant is fully integrated into both my professional and personal life. The goal is to increase my overall professional output, but our lives are too interwoven. The best professional version of myself requires key elements of my personal life to also be in alignment. Expecting an assistant to optimize one area of life without access to the other becomes exhausting for everyone involved. For example, most doctors offices are only open during business hours. Setting and attending the appointment are distractions to the workday, yet need to happen. If you don’t trust your assistant to manage both, get another assistant.

Second, I prefer the term Executive Assistant (EA) instead of Virtual Assistant (VA). Executive Assistant is a clearer expression of my intention for their skill and performance. I don’t want someone to merely help me. I want someone to function as an extension of me by taking initiative, thinking critically, and anticipating needs. The specific terminology doesn’t really matter. It’s all about the importance with which they view their role and responsibilities.

Third, time is our most valuable resource. The more skilled we become at delegating lower-value tasks, the more time we free up to pursue higher-value activities. A schedule filled with more high-value work leads to an inherently more valuable professional. Outlining a clear playbook for all future assistants to follow will save time, energy, mistakes, and frustrations. It also ensures they’re providing value without you having to initiate each interaction.

Next steps: Copy the information below (after ‘Task Examples’) into a cloud-based document, such-as Google Docs, and start filling in your own information.

Task Examples

A common mistake is failing to ask enough from an assistant. These are the top categories I’ve noticed myself asking of my assistant.

(I removed words like “please” and “thank you” for simplicity, but I use them often. Add kind words as needed 😉)

• Product Research. “I need a new _________, research the top 10 options and include price, reviews, and pro/cons”
• Product Purchase. “I need more of my notebooks, I’m out.”
• Reminders. “If a meeting starts before 9am, send me a text reminder day-of.”
• Scheduling. “I need appointment for new eye prescription.”
• Booking Research. “Need flight options. ATL to CDMX for Jan 20-28.”
• Booking. “Need flights, hotel, and ground transport for Jan 20–28 trip.”
• Rescheduling. “Kid in ER. Update team. Reschedule tomorrows meetings. Move to text until resolved.”
• Digitalize. “Convert these handwritten notes.”
• Proofread. “Proofread with 1-pager for typos.”
• Summary. “Read this article and give me the highlights.”
• Manual Automations. “After every work trip, set reminder to write executive summary.”

Overview

• Personal Purpose / Values
• Website Url
• Linkedin Profile Url
• Bio
• Headshot
• Annual Goals (Ex. Run an ultramarathon)

Contact Details & Personal Information

• Date of Birth
• Cell Phone Number
• Email Address(es)
• Communication Preference (Ex. Default to email. Text for emergencies)
• Drivers License Number
• Work Name (Ex. New Story)
• Job Title(s)
• Home Address
• Work Address
• Emergency Contact Details (name, phone, relationship)

Payment Information

Allowing access to financial information is an easy way for things to go off the rails. To safeguard against issues and increase transparency, require any transactions to be logged in a spreadsheet. To increase accountability, ask for screenshot of any purchase request.

• Personal Card (password manager)
• Business Card (password manager)

Key People

This should not become a CRM. It’s just a simple directory to understand names as they appear.

Personal

Include name, email, phone, birthday, interests, anniversary, preferences…

• Spouse
• Children
• Parents
• Siblings
• Friends

Professional

Include name, phone, email, city…

• Executive Team Members
• Key Leadership / Board Members
• Manager / Direct Report
• Subordinates / Direct Supports
• Mentors
• Mentees

Key Events

Avoid this becoming a generic list of holidays. Highlight important, personalized requests, exceptions, and tasks.

• New Years (Ex. Usually OOO day before and day of)
• Valentines Day (Ex. Ensure flowers are ordered 2 weeks in advance)
• Thanksgiving (Ex. Usually OOO day before through Sunday)
• Christmas (Ex. Usually OOO two-days before through Sunday)
• Mother’s Day (Ex. Ensure card is ordered 1 week before.)
• Father’s Day (Ex. Confirm lunch time and location with family.)
• 4th of July (Ex. Purchase Peachtree Road Race Ticket in Spring)
• Planned Family Vacations (Ex. Expect 1 family, 1 spouse, and 1 daddy-daughter)

Equipment

Listing equipment is help when something needs to be repaired or replaced.

Work

• Phone (Ex: Apple iPhone 10s. Annual Renewal)
• Laptop (Ex. Apple MacPro 16")
• Headphones (Ex. Apple Airpod Pro)
• Notebook (Ex. Moleskin Dotted Hardback)
• Pen (Ex. Sharpee Pen Fine Point — Black)
• Water Bottle (Ex. Nalgene 1 Liter)

Running

• Shoes (Ex. Altra Superior 5 — Blue w/ Orange Sole)
• Shorts (Ex. Janji 5" AFO — blue)
• Socks (Ex. Saucony Men Mesh Performance — gray)
• Watch (Ex. Garmin Fenix)

Professional Services

• Health Insurance Details (provider, policy number, contact info)
• Health Insurance Card (password manager)
• Dental Insurance Details (provider, policy number, contact info)
• Dental Insurance Card (password manager)
• Auto Insurance Details (provider, policy number, contact info)
• Auto Insurance Card (password manager)
• Home / Renters Insurance (provider, policy number, contact info)

Include name, website, phone, address, appointment frequency, preferences for following…

• Primary Care Physician
• Vision / Optometrist
• Chiropractor
• Massage Therapist
• Professional Coach
• Individual Counselor
• Couples Counselor

Travel Preferences

Automotive

• Vehicle year/make/model
• Service Location
• Service Dates (Oil Change, Tires, etc)

Air Travel

• Departure Airport (Ex. ATL)
• Seating Preferences (Ex. Window near front of plane)
• Airline (Ex. Delta)
• Baggage (Ex. Carryon only)
• Skymiles Number
• Known Traveler Number (TSA Precheck)
• Clear Membership Number
• Passport Expiration (Ex. 2032)
• Passport Info (password manager)
• Work Travel Reimbursement Form (link)
• Travel Companions (name, DOB, passport #, known traveler #, skymiles #)

Calendar Preferences

• Monday-Friday Routine (Ex. Wake-up Time, First-Meeting Time, Lunch, Logoff Time)
• Saturdays (Ex. Online but no meetings.)
• Sundays (Ex. Family day. Unavailable and offline)
• Evenings/Weekends. (Ex. Confirm with spouse before scheduling)
• Meeting Types & Priority (Ex. Sales meeting — high priority)
• Meeting Preferences (Ex. Phone, even over video. Video, even over in-person)
• Meeting Durations (Ex. Default to 30 minutes for video calls)
• Meeting Exceptions (Ex. Default to in-person for local mentors.)
• Favorite Meeting Locations (Ex. Set location as East Pole when in Midtown.)

Ongoing Tasks

• Every Monday (Ex. Review weeks meetings and double-check priority)
• Every Tuesday
• Every Wednesday
• Every Thursday
• Every Friday (Ex. Send weekly followup summary)
• Every morning (Ex. Review and Catalog Inbox)
• Every EOD (Ex. Check tomorrow’s “outlier” meetings and ensure reminders.)
• Every Month (Ex. Ensure transactions are reconciled)
• Every Quarter (Ex. Review and Update EA Playbook document)
• Every 6 months (Ex. Checkin on Running Shoes)
• Every Year (Ex. Review Key Events and setup reminders and calendar events)
• Every Credit Card Purchase (Ex. Log transaction in “Sheet-of-Sheets”)
• Every Last Minute Schedule Change (Ex. Text change to phone)

Preferred Tools

• File Storage (Ex. Dropbox — individual access)
• E-signature (Ex. Hellosign — checkpassword manager)
• CRM (Ex. Hubspot — restricted access)
• Project Management (Ex. Asana — ensure guest access)
• Notes (Ex. Obsidian — individual device)
• Web Browser (Ex. Chrome)
• Email Interface (Ex. Polymail — check password manager)
• Conference Call (Ex. Zoom)
• Calendar Interface (Apple Calendar App)

Getting Setup

This checklist is listed in EA Playbook and part of their onboarding.

• Access Your (EA) Company Email (Ex. your_first.name@company.com — share credentials)
• Access Password Manager (Ex. 1Password)
• Access Client’s Calendar
• Access Client’s Delegated Email
• Access Client’s Linkedin
• Access Client’s Amazon Account
• Access Client’s “EA Playbook”
• Access Client’s “Transactions Spreadsheet”
• Access “Sheet-of-sheets” (A document of EA-created spreadsheets)
• Make plan for keeping up with “Ongoing Tasks”
• Review “Calendar Preferences”
• Setup Google Alert (Ex. “morgan lopes”, “new story”, “code school book”)

Automations

Reporting and accountability are a helpful part of the process. These automations can we setup with a tool like Zapier.

• Calendar Events to Google Sheet (Track calendar events)
• Outbound Email to Google Sheet (Track what EA is sending)

Conclusion

I hope this helps. Feel free to reach out with any questions: morgan@polarnotion.com

Want to see my actual EA Playbook? Request access to Morgan’s EA Playbook.