Workflow · Any role

Write a first draft from your own notes with AI

Get past the blank page, from material you already trust.

Try with checksIt is worth trying only with the checks on this page.

For: Anyone who writes reports, updates, briefs or posts at work

Go to the steps Test it on your own work

What the evidence says

Partly studied. The closest studies look at a narrower or different task.

Writing with AI: may help (evidence strength 2 of 5)

The closest studies test writing tasks in general. Few look at how much checking the draft then needs.

This workflow itself is our recommended way of working, not a tested method. Studies searched to 2 November 2026.

Before you start

Gather your notes, figures and sources first. The draft can only be as good as they are.
Strip out confidential details unless your employer has approved the tool for them.

The steps

Replace the words in square brackets with your own. Stay in the same chat for the next prompt, unless a step says otherwise.

You
List the three points the piece must make, in your own words.

Ask for an outline, and fix it before any drafting starts.

Prompt

I am writing a [type of document] for [reader]. It must make these points:
1. [point]
2. [point]
3. [point]

Here are my notes:
[paste]

Suggest an outline with one line per section. Use only what is in my notes. Mark any gap where the notes don't support a section.

You
Reorder the outline, cut what you don't need, and fill the gaps yourself.

Draft from the agreed outline, using only your material.

Prompt

Write the draft from this outline, in plain language, in about [number] words. Use only facts from my notes and the outline. If they can't fill that length, stop short and tell me. Where a fact is missing or my notes disagree, write CHECK: what is needed, instead of guessing.

Outline:
[paste]

Notes:
[paste]

You
Clear every CHECK, then rewrite the opening and the ending yourself. They carry your judgement.

How to catch its mistakes

Trace every fact and number back to your notes. Anything you can't trace comes out.
Search for confident general statements with no source, which AI adds to fill space.
Say at the end whether AI helped, if your organisation's rules ask for that.

When not to use this

You don't yet know what you think. Write a rough version yourself first.
The document makes promises on your organisation's behalf and nobody senior will read it before it goes.

Tools

A general AI assistant, or the one built into your word processor. Examples: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot. We chose these because they are common in workplace software, not because they are the best. We leave out Claude products as examples, because we draft this site with Claude. AI assistants compared has them all, with dated facts. Use whichever your employer has approved. The steps work with any tool of this type. We take no money from AI companies.

Find out if it works for you

People often misjudge how much AI helps them. Try this on your next 10 similar tasks, letting a coin flip decide which ones use AI. What to measure: Total minutes including checking, and how many facts needed fixing. Your results stay in your browser. Start the self-test →

If you manage people

Make the author answerable for every line, however it was drafted. Watch whether reviewers now do more work: time saved by the writer can reappear as time spent by the reader.

Written by AI Adoption's editors as our own recommendation, last checked 5 November 2026. It has not been reviewed by an outside practitioner. Before publishing, we ran its prompts once on made-up samples with a second AI model, also from Anthropic. That is a check on the wording, not a test of whether the workflow works for you. Disclosure: AI Adoption uses AI tools in its research and editorial work, including Claude from Anthropic. No company has any say in this page. Reuse under CC BY 4.0. Spotted an error? Tell us.