[Smart Home] Eliminate the morning "Who's doing pickup?" dilemma. A departure hack to have Alexa automatically announce your schedule

"Wait, was it Dad or Mom picking up the kids from daycare today?"

"Huh? Isn't it your turn?"

This confirmation process that unfolds at the front door right before leaving in the morning only doubles the anxiety of an already time-crunched morning.

Even if you share it on a calendar app, it's a daily occurrence to forget to go out of your way to open your smartphone and check with each other during the busy morning hours.

So, I introduced a hack using the routine action feature of the "Amazon Echo (Alexa)" in our living room to have the speaker automatically read out the necessary schedule at a set time every morning.

At 7:30 AM, Alexa speaks the "subject of today's schedule"

The setup is very simple.

Every morning at 7:30 AM, Alexa starts automatically and reads out today's calendar schedule as follows:

"Good morning. Today's daycare pickup is "},{Dad's responsibility. The forecast calls for rain in the evening."

Having this announcement echo through the living room while we are eating breakfast has created the following benefits:

• Information is synchronized to the whole family without opening a smartphone
  While eating breakfast, the "task owner for today" is updated in everyone's mind just by voice. The fruitless conversation of "Who's doing pickup again?" has been reduced to zero.
  

• Checking belongings linked to the weather forecast
  By having Alexa say the "rain forecast" at the same time as the calendar schedule, we can prepare umbrellas and raincoats without panicking at the front door.

The comfort of passively receiving morning "confirmation tasks"

Actively opening a smartphone to check the schedule is a small burden on a busy morning.

Having the system stream only the necessary information by voice at the necessary time.

Having Alexa automate morning routine announcements.

With just this hack, morning confirmation oversights and scheduling mismatches have disappeared, and the sense of security when leaving has improved dramatically. If your family is struggling with how to use a smart speaker, try setting up morning "information announcements."

#SmartHome #Alexa #TimeSavingHack #ParentingHack #ScheduleSharing #FamilyCalendar #Alexa #AmazonEcho #MorningRoutine #EngineersDailyLife

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