🚩Tactical Memo 099: AI Exposes the First-Draft Employee
The draft takes 40 seconds now. What you put on top of it is the job.
Justin Bateh
October 06, 2026
Tactical Memo #099 | The Unwritten Rules · AI | 3 min read
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In brief The situation: A tool now produces the first draft you used to spend a day on. The mistake: Most people send drafts faster and call that the contribution. The move: Put your recommendation in writing on top of every draft you send. |
The story
Your boss asks for a summary of the 3 vendor proposals by Friday.
2 years ago, that was a full day of your week.
You read every proposal and built the comparison by hand.
Today a tool produces that document while you refill your coffee.
40 seconds. For what used to be a day.
You send it, and your boss says thanks.
Your boss could have typed that request without you.
So could anyone on your team.
If the draft was most of what you handed over each week, you're in this exact spot.
AI won't replace the employee who uses it. It may expose the employee whose value was mostly producing first drafts. Here's how to work with it.
The moves
1/ Send your call with the draft
NEVER send a draft on its own again.
Put 2 lines above it.
The first line is what you recommend, and the second is what would change your mind.
When you send a draft, your boss learns that you did the task.
When you send a recommendation, your boss learns how you think.
Say this "I recommend option B. It costs more this year, and it removes the risk we raised last quarter. I'd change my mind if the budget gets cut." |
2/ Add what the tool can't see
The tool worked from the documents you gave it.
You know which director will push back and what happened the last time the company tried this (you already know who it is).
None of that is in the file.
Write it down in 2 lines under your recommendation.
That context came from years of conversations the tool was never part of.
It is the hardest part of your job to copy, so put it where your boss can read it.
Ask this Who will object to this, and what will they say? What did we try before, and why did it stop? What does this look like 6 months after we say yes? |
3/ Spend the saved hours on the decision
The tool gave you back MOST of a day.
Most people spend it producing more drafts (more drafts feel productive, which is the problem).
That's the wrong trade.
Take the next draft to 1 person who will disagree with it before you send it.
More drafts make you faster at the part of the job that just got cheap.
Your boss will remember the 1 call you got right long after the 10 documents you sent.
Do this Before you send the next draft, show it to 1 person who will disagree with it. Add what they said as a line on top. |
The outcome
| Most people | You |
|---|---|
| Send the draft and wait for a reaction | Send the draft with your recommendation on top |
| Leave the context in their head | Write down the context the tool never had |
| Use the saved hours for more drafts | Use the saved hours on the decision |
Proof. In an experiment with 453 college-educated professionals, access to ChatGPT cut the time spent on writing tasks by 40% and raised output quality by 18%. Noy and Zhang, Science, 2023
This week
The draft used to be the proof that you were working, and now anyone can get it in 40 seconds.
The people who've learned this rule send their judgment FIRST and the draft underneath it.
Try it next time a tool writes something for you.
A draft anyone can produce is a job anyone can do.
Reply
What's the 1 thing you produce every week that a tool could now draft in under a minute? Reply with its name. I read every one.
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Until next time.
Justin Bateh, PhD
Former COO, LinkedIn Top Voice
Founder and Editor, Tactical Memo