Executive summaries need source-linked constraints.

Video caption

Executive summaries need source-linked constraints.

Source links need claim-level readback.

One claim, source span, caveat, owner and expiry.

My rule: Do this because the handoff is where authority changes.

#EricFieldNotes

Full written post / accessibility read

I am not arguing that leaders should read every long document. I am arguing that any sentence authorizing a consequential action should carry the source passage, scope, conditions and owner that make it true.

A summary can link the document title while its decisive clause sits elsewhere or belongs to another customer. The link looks reassuring. The leader still needs a targeted readback of the exact passage behind the action.

Have the summarizing agent emit each material claim with a stable source ID and exact supporting passage. A second check compares the action with those conditions. Escalate mismatches and missing owners to the person authorized to decide.

Drafting can be fully automated. Promotion to approval requires a human or protected policy gate to verify the relevant source. Keep that review narrow and deliberate, then record the decision version for future agents.

#EricFieldNotes

Four-beat scene transcript

1. Executive summaries need source-linked constraints.

I am not arguing that leaders should read every long document. I am arguing that any sentence authorizing a consequential action should carry the source passage, scope, conditions and owner that make it true.

Visual: A polished recommendation may have lost its limiting clause.

2. A citation to the wrong paragraph is not control.

A summary can link the document title while its decisive clause sits elsewhere or belongs to another customer. The link looks reassuring. The leader still needs a targeted readback of the exact passage behind the action.

Visual: Source links need claim-level readback.

3. Use a short evidence packet.

Have the summarizing agent emit each material claim with a stable source ID and exact supporting passage. A second check compares the action with those conditions. Escalate mismatches and missing owners to the person authorized to decide.

Visual: One claim, source span, caveat, owner and expiry.

4. Review the source at commitment time.

Drafting can be fully automated. Promotion to approval requires a human or protected policy gate to verify the relevant source. Keep that review narrow and deliberate, then record the decision version for future agents.

Visual: Do this because the handoff is where authority changes.

Research and claim limits

• OpenAI Agents SDK: handoffs (S170)
• NIST AI RMF 1.0 (S171)
• Gao et al., Enabling Large Language Models to Generate Text with Citations, EMNLP 2023 (S177)

The examples identified as illustrative or simulated are design probes, not reported incidents. Vendor specifications do not establish workload performance.