The danger with AI-assisted work is not that the model gets things wrong. The danger is that the draft looks correct enough that the senior signs it without reading it carefully.
You need a protocol. Not a vague "be careful." A protocol. Fifteen minutes, five steps, in order. Below.
The protocol, in five steps.
1. Read the first line and the last line. (2 minutes)
2. Check every number, name, and date against the source. (4 minutes)
3. Find one thing the model invented. (3 minutes)
4. Add one thing the model missed. (3 minutes)
5. Sign, or send back. (3 minutes)
Step 1 โ first and last line
The first line tells you whether the draft has the right opening posture for the audience. The last line tells you whether it lands. Most AI drafts get one of them right and the other one wrong. Read both before you read the middle.
If either is wrong, you do not need to read the middle yet. Send it back with a one-line note.
Step 2 โ every number, name, date
This is the only step where you slow down. Open the source. Open the draft. Verify every figure, every proper noun, every date. If the source says $84.2M, the draft says $84.2M. If the draft says August 14, the source says August 14.
Models invent numbers. Not often. Often enough that you have to check, every time, in every document, for the rest of your career. That is the price of the speed.
Step 3 โ find one thing it invented
Set yourself the task of finding one fabricated detail. A reference that does not exist. A precedent the model is confident about that you have never heard of. A subtle reframing of what the client actually said.
You may not find one. Look anyway. The discipline is what protects you.
Step 4 โ add one thing it missed
This is the step that makes the work yours. The model produced a competent draft. You add the one paragraph it could not have written, the judgment call, the read of the room, the line that connects this draft to a conversation from two weeks ago.
If you cannot find one thing to add, the work was not worth doing.
The printable review protocol.
Members get the protocol as a one-page printable, plus the version for partners reviewing associate work, the version for owners reviewing assistant work, and a five-minute "fast track" review for low-risk pieces.
Step 5 โ sign, or send back
The decision is binary. You sign, in which case the work is yours and the firm's, or you send it back with a one-line note about what step it failed. There is no third option called "approve with reservations." That is how careless signatures get learned.
What the protocol is not
It is not a rewriting exercise. If you find yourself rewriting more than two sentences, the draft was not ready for senior review. Send it back. Tell the originator which step it failed at. They will learn faster from a five-word note than from a marked-up document.
It is also not a substitute for the Fiduciary Firewall. The Firewall tells you what AI is allowed to draft. The Senior Review tells you how to read it before you sign.
Filed under Profession ยท The Leverage Years ยท Vol. I, Issue 10.