What to hand to an AI assistant, and what to keep

The question for any task is simple: if the assistant gets this slightly wrong, what happens? If the answer is "I fix it in a minute and nobody notices", it can run alone. If a client would see the mistake, it drafts and you approve. If the mistake costs money, creates a commitment or opens a security hole, keep it.

These are tasks where the output stays inside your business or is easy to correct.

• Inbox sorting. Splitting mail into needs you today, FYI, and can wait, and flagging anything from a client you named as important.
• Meeting notes to tasks. Pulling out who promised what by when and putting it on your task list.
• Weekly summary. A short note every Friday of what is open, what is overdue and what is waiting on someone else.
• Prospect research. A page of background before a sales call, from public sources.
• Scheduling with people you already work with. Finding a time and sending the invite.

Start each of these in draft mode for a week or two anyway. Once you stop changing what it produces, let it run.

Anything a client or prospect will read starts here.

• Routine client replies."Yes, Thursday works", "here is the file", "we'll have that to you by Friday".
• Meeting recaps. What was agreed and the next steps, sent to the client after the call.
• Proposal follow ups. A polite nudge a week after a proposal goes quiet.
• Invoice reminders. A friendly note when an invoice passes its due date, then a firmer one later.
• Status updates.The weekly "here is where your project is" email.

The point of this bucket is that writing is slow and reading is fast. You still decide what goes out. You just stop starting from a blank page.

Some things stay with you no matter how good the assistant gets.

• Money. Paying bills, issuing refunds, moving funds. An assistant can remind you; it does not press the button.
• Commitments. Signing contracts, agreeing to scope changes, promising dates you have not checked.
• Access. Changing passwords, adding people to accounts, sharing files outside the business.
• Pricing. Quotes, discounts and rate changes.
• Hard conversations. An upset client, a missed deadline, letting a contractor go.

Here is an illustrative example, not a real client. Picture a three person design studio: an owner who sells and manages clients, a designer and a part time project manager.

• Every morning the owner's inbox is already sorted, with three emails marked as needing a reply today and a draft under each.
• After a client call, the recap is waiting as a draft within the hour. The owner tweaks one line and sends it.
• The task list picks up the two things the designer promised on the call.
• On Monday, two drafts are waiting: a follow up on a proposal sent last week and a reminder on an overdue invoice. The owner sends one and holds the other because she knows the client is on holiday.
• On Friday, a summary of open work lands in the team channel.

Nothing in that week moved money, signed anything or changed anyone's access.

The drafts bucket only works if approving is quicker than writing. A few habits help:

• One place to approve. Drafts sit where you already work, such as your email drafts folder, not in a new tool you have to remember to open.
• Approve, edit or bin. Every draft gets one of three answers. If you edit the same thing every time, tell the assistant so the next draft is right.
• Nothing sends on a timer. A draft you have not approved does not go out.
• Review the runs alone list monthly. If something there went wrong, move it back to drafts.

Download the delegation list. It is a spreadsheet with common admin tasks already filled in and columns for how often you do each one, how long it takes, which bucket it belongs in and who approves. Add your own tasks, fill in the minutes, and the tasks with the most time and the least risk are where to start.

Fill it in from a real week, not from memory. Look at your sent folder and calendar for the last five working days and list what you actually did.

When you are ready to hand the list over, see how an AI assistant for founders and small teams works, with you approving anything that leaves the business. You buy your own AI seat so the account stays yours.