Workflow: summarise a long document with checkpoints

Long documents are where summaries go wrong quietly: sections are skipped, numbers drift, and the summary reflects the beginning more than the end. This workflow keeps each step small enough to check.

Before you start

• The document is one you are allowed to process with the tool you chose. For sensitive material, a local model runner keeps the text on your machine, but check its settings first.
• You have a brief with a word limit and a "done when" list. See Write a reusable task brief.

Step 1: split by the document's own structure

Use the document's headings or chapters, not a fixed number of pages. Each part should make sense on its own.

Step 2: summarise each part with the same brief

Paste the brief, then one part. Ask for a fixed shape so results can be combined:

Summarise the part below in at most 80 words.
Then list every number it states, with its exact wording.
Do not add information that is not in the part.

Step 3: combine and cut

Join the part summaries, then shorten to the final word limit yourself or with one more request. Keep the number lists aside.

Step 4: check against the original

Run the three checks on the combined summary. The number lists from step 2 make the arithmetic check fast.

Variations