In the words of Jakob Holm Nielsen, who runs the clients, projects and ventures that sit under Catalys.
Catalys is Jakob's umbrella for work that spans several clients, projects, people and platforms. Holding an overview of all of it, and being the person who always remembers where everything lives, is a large part of the day.
Before working with Cimalys, that overview lived across his calendar, inbox, to-do list, meeting notes, documents, Slack and whatever was in his head, held together mostly by memory and messages to other people.
"I could usually make it work, but I was the one constantly remembering, translating and coordinating between all the different systems."
Cimalys built Jakob a personal AI assistant on top of his own calendar, tasks, documents and communication. Here is what changed, in his words.
Not another chat tool
The decision did not come from wanting a smarter chatbot. It came from wanting help running the actual work.
"I did not need another chat tool. I needed a practical assistant that could help me run my actual work. Not just answer questions, but help plan events, coordinate people and calendars, structure ideas, turn things into next steps and keep some overview when there are many moving parts."
The morning triage
The part Jakob reaches for first is the morning triage. Before the day runs away, he and the assistant go through what is actually in front of him.
"We go through my calendar and to-do list together, and it helps me see what matters today before the day gets away from me."
Structure, without holding it all in his head
Jakob has always needed structure and always found it hard to keep up alone. He is clear that the assistant has not taken the structuring off his hands. He still makes the choices and keeps the responsibility. What changed is that the whole system no longer has to live in his memory.
"It feels like having a very structured buddy I can talk things through with, rather than having to hold the whole system in my own head."
One assistant, across the systems
The difference Jakob points to is access across systems. Working across several platforms normally means copying things between tools or trying to remember where something lives. Connecting the assistant to his own tools lets it join up calendar, tasks, documents, meetings and communication instead.
"Through Composio, I can give the assistant access to the relevant tools, so it can help connect the dots between calendar, tasks, documents, meetings and communication. That is much more useful than a standalone chatbot."
It also means he is not tied to his desk. An idea caught on his phone can go straight to the right place: the task list, the calendar or a project.
What still needs a human
Jakob draws the line clearly, unprompted. The assistant supports his judgement, it does not stand in for it.
"It is only as good as the context, boundaries and habits you build around it. I would not want to hand over my judgement."
He adds that you still need to understand your own tools and priorities well enough to notice when the assistant is heading in the wrong direction. The practical side gets lighter; the responsibility stays with him.
No number, on purpose
Like others we work with, Jakob declined to put a clean figure on it yet.
"I have not measured it closely enough to give you a clean percentage or a precise number of hours saved. But I know I am much better at catching things before they disappear, and I spend far less energy on the small coordination tasks that otherwise build up. I think I am still only using maybe 50% of what it could help me with. Even at that level, it has made a real difference."
His recommendation, conditional rather than a pitch
Asked whether he would do it again, Jakob did not hesitate. He would spend even more time early on teaching it how he works. His advice to someone considering it:
"It is worth it if you are carrying a lot of complexity yourself, especially if you work across clients, projects, people and platforms and you are tired of being the person who has to keep every thread together. But start with the things that genuinely drain your attention. Do not start with AI for AI's sake. Start with the parts of your work you would like a good, organised colleague to help you with."