An attention budget belongs at consequential decisions.

Video caption

An attention budget belongs at consequential decisions.

The owner may never see the original condition.

Source span, condition, decision and owner time.

My rule: Do this because ownership needs evidence.

#EricFieldNotes

Full written post / accessibility read

A company using AI for drafting and execution cannot ask managers to read every generated page. It can require a named owner to inspect the source when an action changes customer rights, money, external commitments or architecture.

A manager clicks approve on an AI-prepared packet. The hidden customer exception was dropped two handoffs earlier. The approval event exists, but the attention control did not fire where it mattered: on the authoritative passage.

Present the one passage that changes the action. Ask the owner to restate the scope and limiting condition, then record approval against the checked decision version. Audit a sample for actual source opening and later reversals. Use more human time where consequence is higher.

Drafts can flow quickly. At the promotion to commitment, require a short accountable readback tied to source and action. Measure whether that gate reduces orphaned decisions and rework in your own company before claiming it works.

#EricFieldNotes

Four-beat scene transcript

1. An attention budget belongs at consequential decisions.

A company using AI for drafting and execution cannot ask managers to read every generated page. It can require a named owner to inspect the source when an action changes customer rights, money, external commitments or architecture.

Visual: Audit whether the right person opened the right source.

2. An approval click is not proof of source review.

A manager clicks approve on an AI-prepared packet. The hidden customer exception was dropped two handoffs earlier. The approval event exists, but the attention control did not fire where it mattered: on the authoritative passage.

Visual: The owner may never see the original condition.

3. Record a narrow readback.

Present the one passage that changes the action. Ask the owner to restate the scope and limiting condition, then record approval against the checked decision version. Audit a sample for actual source opening and later reversals. Use more human time where consequence is higher.

Visual: Source span, condition, decision and owner time.

4. Protect decision attention, not document review theater.

Drafts can flow quickly. At the promotion to commitment, require a short accountable readback tied to source and action. Measure whether that gate reduces orphaned decisions and rework in your own company before claiming it works.

Visual: Do this because ownership needs evidence.

Research and claim limits

• OpenAI Agents SDK: handoffs (S170)
• NIST AI RMF 1.0 (S171)
• Lee et al., The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking, CHI 2025 (S172)

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