[Non-Engineer's Claude/Claude Code Series] The Story of How a Mid-Career Hire with No IT Experience Got Help from Claude to Move from Sticky Note Task Management

Introduction

My name is Harazawa, and I work in sales at Classmethod.

At my previous job, I worked in sales at a financial institution. When it came to task management, sticky notes were my only option.
Stick them on the desk, peel them off when done, and toss them away. That was my task management.

Even after joining Classmethod, I continued for a while jotting things down on sticky notes and in Slack whenever something came to mind. But I always had this feeling: "I really want to start managing everything on my PC!"

The thing is, it was such a hassle...

• Going through the scattered notes I'd written in Slack, reorganizing them, and then re-entering everything into Google Calendar felt like too much work.
• Editing and deleting things in Slack once they were done was also a pain.
• The analog mindset would creep in: "Isn't it actually easier to just slash through a task on a sticky note and call it done?"

I was completely stuck on what to do.

So I consulted Claude about it, and it took care of everything.

Prerequisites: Connecting the Connectors

To try the method described in this article, you'll need to connect the Slack and Google Calendar connectors in advance from the Claude.ai settings screen. If you're unsure how to connect them, try asking Claude: "I want to connect the Slack and Google Calendar connectors"!

What I Wanted to Do

Simply put, here's the kind of system I wanted to build:

• Notes written in Slack → automatically become a TODO list
• Completed tasks → marked clearly as DONE
• Synced to my calendar → so I can see "when" things need to get done

I started with zero IT knowledge and barely knowing how to use any tools.

Consulting Claude

I started by asking, "What tools should I use?"

I've been writing TODOs as notes in Slack,
and I want to turn them into a TODO list where I can mark things as DONE.
Is there a way to sync that with a calendar too?

Here's what was suggested:

• Slack DM to myself → where I write notes (same as before)
• Google Calendar → managing TODOs with due dates and checking my schedule

With a "Shall we give it a try?" kind of flow, it actually went ahead and did it.

Trying It Out

Step 1: Reading Slack Notes and Converting Them into TODOs

All I had to do was tell Claude, "Look at my Slack DMs and organize my tasks." It automatically searched for the Slack channel ID from my name and read my DMs. I didn't need to look up any channel ID at all — just saying "look at my Slack DMs" was enough.

Here's how my tasks were organized:

• 🔴 Urgent: Check on ●● / Sales meeting request for ●● / Watch ●● training video
• 🟡 Normal: Request to ●● / Reply to ●●'s email …and more

An organizing task that would have taken me around 5 minutes on my own was done in seconds.

Step 2: Adding Tasks to Google Calendar with Due Dates

The extracted TODOs were registered directly as events in Google Calendar.

Urgent tasks were added in red, and normal tasks in yellow. Now I can see at a glance "what's happening this week" and "what's high priority"!

Step 3: Making It a Morning Routine

Once the system was set up, I started using it the very next morning. In the morning, I open Claude and say one thing:

Organize my Slack notes for today

That's all it takes to kick off the whole process: read Slack notes → extract TODOs → reflect them in Google Calendar.

The key point is "don't add tasks that are already completed."
I told it not to add duplicate entries for things already marked as done in the calendar, even if the notes are still in Slack — and it handled that right away! I was amazed at how smart it was. It's a small thing, but it really helps.

What I Learned

What Worked Well

• It runs with just the words "organize it." No manual steps required.
• I can now visually see "what's happening this week" in my calendar.
• Slack and Google Calendar are connected, yet all I did was "ask for help."

To Be Honest

At first, I was skeptical, thinking "How is this even going to work?" But since Claude handled all the setup, I barely did anything myself. If anything, I just talked to it like a friend — saying things like "Try this" or "Can you do this every morning?"

Closing Thoughts

I — someone who used sticky notes for task management — now have a task management system that syncs Slack and Google Calendar! It makes me wonder what all those years of sticky note task management were even for. I can now manage my tasks in a stylish, simple way that makes priorities easy to understand!

If you're thinking "I want to manage things on my PC, but I don't know where to start," try consulting Claude first. Even if you don't know how to use the tools, it'll figure everything out together with you.

This article is part of the "Claude/Claude Code Series for Non-Engineers." Non-engineer members at Classmethod take turns sharing their experiences using Claude.