Kendall E. MatthewsFrom Strategy to Useful Work

Free Second-Pass Audit

The AI answer looks finished. Is it ready to use?

Before you send, approve, publish, present, or act on important AI-assisted work, check it against the source, requirements, evidence, and constraints that should govern it.

The Second-Pass Audit gives you a simple way to make a better acceptance decision.

Open the Complete Second-Pass Audit Kit Opens a Google Doc with the audit prompt, checklist, decision guide, worked example, and step-by-step instructions.

The checkpoint problem

Another answer is still another answer.

When an AI answer looks wrong, asking AI to check itself again can help. But you are still asking for another answer. The Second-Pass Audit changes the checkpoint. Instead of asking whether the work sounds right, return to the material that should govern it and compare the two.

That is where missed constraints, weak interpretations, unsupported conclusions, and important omissions become easier to see.

The method

Five steps before you accept the work

01

Compare

Return to the source, requirements, evidence, or constraints that should govern the work.

02

Identify

Find material gaps, errors, unsupported conclusions, weak interpretations, and missed constraints.

03

Correct

Fix what the available source actually resolves.

04

Recheck

Check the areas affected by the correction.

05

Decide

ShipReviseHold

The goal is not another round of polishing. The goal is a better acceptance decision.

A worked example

The campaign looked ready.

I used the Second-Pass Audit on the campaign for the Second-Pass Audit itself. The work looked close to finished. The second pass caught material issues.

The campaign was not bad. It was not ready.

The decision changed from SHIP to HOLD until the issues were corrected and rechecked.

Worked example. Not proof of universal effectiveness.

Material issues caught
  • Stale positioning
  • The wrong call to action
  • Outdated decision labels
  • An old URL
  • A proof claim stronger than the available record supported
Ship→Hold

Try it on your own work

Use the Second-Pass Audit yourself.

The full public method is available on GitHub. You can inspect it, use it, adapt it, and run it against important AI-assisted work before you accept the result.

Open the Free Second-Pass Audit Opens the public GitHub project. No signup required.

One important limit

Matching the source does not prove the source is right.

Sometimes the right decision is HOLD because you need better evidence, a better source, or qualified professional review. The Second-Pass Audit improves the acceptance process. It does not guarantee the answer is correct.