The trail

The question you will eventually be asked is "did you check that?" The answer that protects you is not "yes." It is "yes, here is what I checked and how." That requires a trail, and the trail is a two-minute habit.

For medium and high work, keep a short note alongside the output: which tool and version, what you asked, which specifics you verified and against what, which sources you opened, and what you changed. Three to eight lines. A note in the document's comments, a line in your task tracker, a file in the project folder. It does not matter where. It matters that it exists.

The trail does three things. It protects you when something turns out wrong anyway, because you can show diligence. It makes you check properly, because you have to write down that you did. And it makes the next similar task faster, because you can see what needed checking last time.

In practice. An adviser at a regulated firm keeps a verification note with every client-facing document that used AI. When a compliance review asked how AI was being controlled, she produced six months of notes. The review took ten minutes. Two colleagues without notes had a longer afternoon.

Create a verification note for this piece of work. Tool used: [ tool ]. What I asked: [ summary of the prompt ]. Specifics I checked and against what: [ list ]. Sources I opened: [ list ]. Changes I made after checking: [ list ]. Format it as a short note, under 100 words, dated, that I can attach to the document.

At your desk. For your next medium or high task, write the trail note as you check. Time it. Attach it to the output. Then write the note template you will use from now on.

Write it down.

• Where my trail notes live:
• Minutes the first one took:
• My template, in one line: