Incoming request (bad): “Can AI just handle our competitor write-up like last time?”
That sentence has no audience, no sources, no length, no deadline, and a hidden side effect (“just handle” might mean email the CEO).
1. Turn it into a job
Ticket-sized goal: “Draft a two-page competitor note for internal use, US English, by Thursday, do not send.”
2. Pack
- Last quarter’s note (example of good)
- Three official competitor URLs
MUST-NOT.md: no invented pricing; no customer names; no send- Audience: staff, not Twitter
3. Compile
Spec: table of changes since last note + 400-word implications. Acceptance: every number has a URL; file lands in draft/competitor-2026-08.md.
4. Loop
Plan (approved) → extract table → draft prose → critic pass against MUST-NOT → stop. Human edits. Human decides whether to share.
5. Evidence
- File exists
- Two URLs clicked by a person
- No email tool enabled
That is an agent-shaped job that never needed production credentials. Most “we should use agents” requests collapse to this if you insist on a pack.