# Under the Hood

By [DYLIT Chronicles](https://dylit.info/user/dylitmediabuzz)

[Everything AI - beyond the hype](https://dylit.info/pr/everything-ai-beyond-the-hype/6a9efac02e92664f4d50cf9d) > [Under the Hood](https://dylit.info/ch/under-the-hood/6ab35f8099638e119f592d1f)

The Before-You-Send Checklist Print it This is a page to keep beside you, not a post to read once. Pin it up for a month. After that you will be running it without noticing, and the checklist will have done its job. Seven questions . Ten seconds each way. Keep it visible for your first month and it becomes automatic. Before you prompt 1. Have I supplied the context it has no way of knowing? Background, constraints, the actual figures, the previous version. Anything in your head and not in the message is not available to it. 2. Have I specified what the output should look like? Format, length, tone, structure. Leave it open and you get an essay, because that is what an unspecified request resembles. 3. Does anything here count as confidential or identifiable? Customer details, employee information, credentials, unreleased numbers. If yes, either anonymize it or use a tool cleared for that level of sensitivity. 4. Did I ask for a draft, or demand a finished answer? Asking for something to review produces more honest output than asking for a definitive answer. The framing genuinely changes what comes back. Before you send 5. Have I checked every fact, figure and citation? Every specific, against a primary source. This is the one that saves you. 6. Have I actually read every word? Not skimmed. Read. Skimming is how a fabricated number reaches a client inside an otherwise excellent document. 7. Am I comfortable standing behind this as my own? Because you will be. "The AI wrote that part" has never once improved a conversation. Why a checklist rather than a rule "Be careful with AI output" is advice nobody can act on, because everyone already believes they are being careful. A checklist is different. You either worked through it or you did not. It converts an intention into a fact about what you did. The prompt-side questions take longer than they look, because two of them require you to decide something. That is the point. A surprising amount of weak output traces back to the person not having decided who it was for or what it needed to do. The send-side questions take longer on a long document and are worth every minute.