Checking AI Work Without Slowing the Team Down

The check is the part nobody plans for. A team adopts an assistant, output goes up in a week, and then somebody has to read all of it.

This paragraph exists to show the marks. Here is bold text, here is emphasis, here is the gold highlighter, and here is inline code. This is a link that stays on the site and this is a link that opens in a new tab. This sentence cites a numbered source^[1] and so does this one^[2].

The three checks worth keeping

Most review habits die because they ask for too much. These three survive contact with a real week, and each of them takes under two minutes.

A sub heading, which the rail does not number

Section headings earn a numbered row in the contents rail. Sub headings do not, on purpose: a rail with fourteen rows is a wall, not a map.

Bullets, numbers and ticks

The editor offers three list kinds and each one means something different.

• Bullets are for things that have no order
• They take the em dash marker the comp draws
• Use them for properties, not for steps

Numbers are for steps that must happen in order.

1. Pick the one job first
2. Write the brief, then leave it alone for a day
3. Run it for two weeks before you judge it

Ticks are for things already done, or things a reader can confirm.

• The output has a right answer
• The check takes under two minutes
• More than one person does the job

What to write down

Three numbers, all of them about the check rather than the output. How often the check found something, how long the check took, and how often the checker disagreed with the last checker.

When to stop

Stop when the check finds nothing for a month. That is not the tool being perfect; it is the check having moved to the wrong place.

Author

Ananya Iyer

Programme Director, AI Practice/3 articles

Ananya has run delivery teams for fourteen years, the last four on programmes where part of the work is drafted by a tool and checked by a person. She writes about the checking, because that is the part nobody budgets for.

Questions people ask

01

Does every output need a check?

No. Check the ones that leave the team. Anything that stays inside a draft folder is already being checked by whoever picks it up.

02

Who should do the checking?

Somebody who does the job, not somebody senior to it. The check is a craft question, and seniority answers a different one.

03

How is this different from a normal review?

A review reads for quality. This reads for one named failure, which is why it fits in two minutes.

04

What if the team will not do it?

Then the job was too big. Cut it until the check is smaller than the annoyance of skipping it.

Sources

1. Source to be added.
2. Source to be added.

Published 16 Sept 2026  /  Last updated 17 Sept 2026