Directive anatomy

Build-along · ~12 min at your own keyboard

A directive is an SOP written for an AI employee: what we're doing, what comes in, the steps, what to do when it's weird, and how we know it's done. Five sections. Miss the edge cases and you get graceful, silent failure. One lead follow-up sent instead of the whole batch, no error thrown.

Your starter: Citation pre-check directive

Instructions

Make it yours: Name the authorities you actually cite most (statute, regulation, bulletin, instructions), set where each one is opened, and keep the rule that it never grades a citation as correct.

DIRECTIVE: citation pre-check

INPUT: a draft memo or letter, de-identified. Nothing identifiable goes in.

DO:
- Pull every authority out of the draft, one per line: section, regulation, ruling, case, form instruction.
- Beside each write where I open it: [statute site] / [CFR] / [bulletin] / [court reporter] / [instructions, year].
- Flag the three shapes: a case with no pin cite, a section attached to a rule it may not contain, a ruling number with no trail.
- Mark every line VERIFY. Count the lines and the flags.

NEVER:
- Never write confirmed, correct, or checked beside any citation.
- Never supply a replacement citation.
- Never state a figure the draft did not contain; write [ASK THE CLIENT: the document] where a fact is missing.

The coach checks that what you paste back is your own work. The starter pasted back unchanged won't pass.

Do this

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Share what happened

Paste your five sections (trimmed) with the edge cases and threshold visible.