Reply-Draft Checklist
Module 5, Lesson 5.3 · one per drafted reply · the five-check review before you send · concept
What this is. The five-check review from Lesson 5.3, in a form you can tape next to your keyboard. Five checks, three failure modes, one line about what you changed. No check-box fires until you have actually done the check.
How to use. Open the drafted reply in your drafts folder. Read it once, top to bottom, out loud if you can. Then run the five checks in order. When all five pass, send. If any fails, revise or rewrite.
Safety norm — this is the module’s load-bearing rule.
The agent drafts. A human sends. No outbound message leaves your account that a human has not reviewed.
Header
Date / time
Thread or recipient (relationship, not name)
Prompt used (in one line)
The five checks
CHECK 01
Voice
Does this sound like me? Is the register right for this recipient? Read the first sentence and the sign-off out loud.
If fail, what is off:
CHECK 02
Facts
Is every factual claim in the draft correct? Dates, numbers, names, what the other person said — all of it. If the draft quotes the thread, is the quote accurate?
If fail, what is wrong:
CHECK 03
Relationship fit
Does this reply understand the relationship? Would the recipient recognize this as a message from me to them, not a generic polite note?
If fail, what is off:
CHECK 04
What is missing
Is there anything the recipient actually asked for that the draft does not address? A question unanswered, a commitment not confirmed, a date not named?
If fail, what is missing:
CHECK 05
What is extra
Is there any sentence in the draft that commits me to something I did not intend? “Happy to help anytime,” “just let me know if you need anything else” — the canonical over-commit shapes.
If fail, which sentence to cut:
The three failure modes (reference)
Name which one showed up
Smooth wrong claim — the draft states something confidently that is factually off. Check 02 catches it.
Off-voice reply — grammatically correct, substantively fine, but does not sound like you. Check 01 and Check 03 catch it.
Over-committing sentence — the agent adds warmth that becomes a commitment you did not intend. Check 05 catches it.
Revision + send
What I changed (one line)
Sent at
Draft copy saved. Sent copy saved. Both filed under Entry 2 of the capstone log.
A note on the muscle
The five checks feel slow at first. After about three weeks of real use, you will run them in about twenty seconds per draft — reading the draft once with the five questions in your head. The point is not the form; the point is the habit. Keep the form until the habit is installed. You will know the habit is installed the day you catch yourself catching an over-commit before you opened this page.
Print this page. Tape it near your keyboard. Use it on every drafted reply.