Research & practice
Define the deliverable before handing work to an agent
I unpacked “write a proposal” into sources, drafting, review and delivery. These are the questions I use to define an agent’s work before it starts.
The problem
“Write a proposal” left an agent’s sources, authority and completion criteria unclear.
My approach
I used drafting, review and delivery to separate the checks each stage needs.
What changed
I arrived at three reusable questions about inputs, verification and missing evidence.
BUILD DETAILS
Build details & ideas to reuse
01Define the assignment before the tools
Saying an agent writes a proposal leaves its sources and authority unclear. I start with the input, deliverable and review criteria. That is also the perspective I took in the UPMI report: the design of the work matters more than the tool count.
02Separate drafting, review and delivery
My example is a proposal: draft from a defined source set, review its figures and evidence, then confirm the recipient and final version for delivery. This is a way to expose the decisions in each stage, not a claim about a particular client deployment.
03Keep the reason for a revision
Knowing which source was used and why a sentence changed makes the next review easier. I would assess unsupported claims, repeated revisions and review delays as well as drafting speed. A fast draft can still be expensive to check.
04Three lines for the next brief
For the next task, write down the permitted inputs, how you will verify completion and what to do when evidence is missing. I use these questions to separate delegated work from my decisions, whether the output is a report, teaching material or a server change.