People Lookup via Glean

When users ask about people in the organization, use Glean's employee search and activity signals to find the right person.

Tool Naming

See the glean-tools-guide skill for Glean MCP tool naming conventions. Tools follow the pattern mcp__glean_[server-name]__[tool] where the server name is dynamic. Use whatever Glean server is available in your tool list.

When This Applies

Use this approach when users ask:

"Who works on [system/project]?"
"Who is [name]?" or "What team is [name] on?"
"Who should I talk to about [topic]?"
"Who owns [component/service]?"
"Who reports to [manager]?"
"Find someone who knows about [technology]"

BE SKEPTICAL

Not everyone who appears in search results is a good recommendation.

Expertise Evidence Test

Is there real evidence of expertise?
✅ STRONG: Multiple signals (code + docs + involvement)
⚠️ MODERATE: Single signal but significant
❌ WEAK: Just mentioned once, attended a meeting

Recency Test

Are they actively involved?
✅ ACTIVE: Activity in past 6 months
⚠️ HISTORICAL: 6-12 months ago
❌ STALE: 12+ months - likely outdated

Availability Test

Are they still in a relevant position?
✅ CURRENT: Same team/role
⚠️ MOVED: Changed teams but retains knowledge
❌ GONE: Left company or completely different role

Filter Out:

Single mentions without other evidence
People who just attended meetings on a topic
Former employees
People whose involvement is tangential

Quality over quantity: Better to recommend 2 right people than 10 weak matches.

Tool Selection

User Intent	Glean Tool
Find by name, role, team	`employee_search`
Find by code contributions	`code_search`
Find by document authorship	`search` with `owner:` filter
Complex expertise analysis	`chat`

Critical: Use employee_search for People Queries

Never use regular search for people lookups. The employee_search tool is specifically designed for:

Name lookups
Role/title searches
Team/department queries
Org chart navigation
Reporting relationships

Query Examples

# Find by name
employee_search "John Smith"

# Find by team
employee_search "payments team"

# Find direct reports
employee_search "reportsto:\"Jane Doe\""

# Find by role type
employee_search "engineering managers"

# Find recent hires
employee_search "startafter:2024-01-01"

Finding Expertise (Not Just Role)

For "who actually knows about X" questions, combine signals:

Official role: employee_search "[topic]"
Code activity: code_search "[topic] owner:\"name\""
Doc authorship: search "[topic] RFC owner:\"name\""

People with multiple signals are true experts. Single-signal matches should be noted with lower confidence.

If No Good Matches Found

Don't pad with weak recommendations:

No strong expertise matches found for [topic].

**What was checked:**
- Employee search: [results]
- Code contributions: [results]
- Doc authorship: [results]

**Suggestions:**
- Ask in [relevant channel]
- Check with [related team] leadership

Relationship to Commands

For comprehensive expertise discovery, suggest:

/glean-people:find-expert <topic> - Multi-signal expertise analysis
/glean-people:stakeholders <change> - Find who needs to be involved
/glean-docs:onboarding <team> - Get to know a new team

people-lookup