How work changes
Work with texts and knowledge has changed form several times already. Legal work serves as the example here: from a speech in court to the manuscript, print, the typewriter, the computer and database search. Now the work of analysts, managers, accountants, researchers and lawyers is changing. Assistants built on language models write drafts, search, organize information and lay out documents in minutes. This practicum covers what exactly changes and how to approach it.
- 1Work has changed form before
- 2What the assistant changes
- 3What gets cheaper, what gains value
- 4A task is made of operations
- 5Practice
Work has changed form before
Each new technology made one part of the work cheaper and another part more valuable. For a lawyer it went like this. When print made a copy of a text cheap, knowing where to look and how to interpret became valuable. When the computer made a new version cheap, a good template became valuable. When databases made finding a document cheap, the skill of picking what matters and checking it became valuable. The same holds for an analyst: when the spreadsheet made calculation cheap, the question of what to calculate became valuable.
Professional questions themselves changed less over this time than the way people work on them. So it helps to look not at a single tool but at which part of the work gets cheaper and what becomes more important as a result.
Film. Seven eras, from the ancient orator to the assistant. Each one shows what became cheaper and what became more valuable.
The eras in brief
What the assistant changes
An assistant built on a language model does in minutes what used to take hours: writes the first draft of a letter or a memo, finds documents and sources, builds a table from scattered information, lays out a document in Word, PDF or on a web page. Each of these results looks finished.
This can change not only the speed but the form of the work. Less time goes into carrying out steps and more into two things: setting the task so that the result can be checked, and checking the result, because a neat draft can contain a made-up fact. How much the time changes depends on the task: studies give different results, so it is worth measuring yourself. The decision and the responsibility for it stay with a person.
Film. One legal task for a client, worked through twice: how it was done before and how it is done now. An analyst's report or a memo for a manager breaks down the same way. Watch where the time goes and where the risk appears.
More: what the assistant already does well and where the limit is
| Work | What it can already do | What to check | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documents | Assembles a contract, letter or memo in Word, LaTeX, PDF or HTML with a clean structure: styles, numbering, tables. | Field values, derived sums, the logic of the clauses. | Documents: structure and assembly |
| Search | Searches the internet and the files it is given, and summarizes what it found with links. | Whether each source exists and says what the answer claims. | Why a model makes things up |
| Organizing | Turns correspondence, notes and scans into tables, timelines, lists of deadlines. | Missing and reordered entries, dates, sums. | A contract as data |
| Pages and tools | Builds web pages, calculators and small programs for a task. This series of practicums was made the same way. | Whether the tool computes correctly on known examples. | Working with an assistant |
The limit lies not where the assistant “can't”, but where the result cannot be checked or where a decision with responsibility is needed. Those steps stay with a person even when the assistant writes about them with confidence.
What gets cheaper, what gains value
Ten ordinary tasks of a lawyer. A manager, an analyst or an accountant has similar ones: a letter, a timeline, minutes, a calculation, a decision. For each, choose how it makes sense to split it between an assistant and a person today. There is no single right answer for every case: the explanation shows the typical split and the reason for it.
Who does it
A task is made of operations
To decide what to hand to an assistant or a program, a task is broken down into operations: find information, match records, compute a value, assess a condition, write a text, make a decision. Each operation has an input, a result and a way to check it.
A program handles operations with a clear input and a checkable output well. A language model prepares a draft text. Assessment and decisions stay with the person.
Who does the step
More: six operations and how to check them
| Operation | Input | Result | Usually done by | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Find | code, number, query | a record or a document | program | the identifier matches, not the name |
| Match | two sets of fields | a list of mismatches | program | a person explains every mismatch |
| Compute | numbers and a rule | a value | program | recalculate one case by hand |
| Assess | facts and a rule: a law, a policy, a standard | a conclusion about risk | person | an argument citing a source |
| Write | conclusions and a format | a draft text | model | check every statement |
| Decide | conclusions, the interests of the client or the company | a decision | person | who decided and on what basis |
Breaking a task into operations shows where a mistake costs the most and where checking is needed. It also answers the question “what to automate”: not a whole matter, but the operations with a checkable output.
Practice
- Break down your weekList ten tasks you did over the past week, for study or for work. For each, write down which operations it consists of, which of them an assistant or a program could do, and how you will check the result. Table template.
- One task with an assistantPick one task from the list and do it with an assistant. Time separately setting the task, getting the draft and checking it. What took the longest? What would you change in how you set the task next time?
- DiscussionWhich part of your own work would you not hand to an assistant even if the result were perfect? Why: because of responsibility, the trust of a client or a manager, or because it cannot be checked? Write the argument in three sentences.
What to take away
- Each technology makes one part of the work cheaper and another part more valuable.
- The assistant makes the draft, search and form cheaper. Setting the task, checking and deciding gain value.
- A finished look says nothing about whether a result is correct.
- Hand the assistant operations with a checkable output, not a whole matter.