When not to use it
- Level 1
- 3 minutes
- Free
Recognize the work that should stay with you, and the work that needs checking.
This lesson
- Read Now
- Try it
- Check
The idea
Claude is a strong first pair of hands. Some work still has to be yours.
Most tasks land in one of three piles. Hand it to Claude, hand it over and check it, or do it yourself.
Anthropic says the same about its own tools. Take Claude for Excel, the add-in that works inside your spreadsheets. Its page says it isn't recommended for “final client deliverables without human review”. Its help pages say not to rely on Claude as your only source.
Check it, or keep it
Do
Use Claude, then check: drafts, summaries, and any figure before it goes to a client or your boss.
Don't
Do it myself: decisions about people, like hiring or reviews. Protected records. Anything faster by hand.
Keep with you:
- Decisions about people: hiring, performance reviews, patient care.
- Final figures nobody has checked.
- Regulated or confidential data.
- Tasks you can do faster yourself.
Sort the pile
Sort these six into three piles in your head first:
- A lunch reminder to your team.
- Action items from your meeting notes.
- Totals for a client invoice.
- A performance rating for someone you manage.
- A patient's chart, and what to do next.
- A two-word yes to one email.
Then ask Claude, and compare:
Sort these into “use Claude”, “use Claude, then check” and “do it myself”, with one reason each: a lunch reminder to my team; action items from my meeting notes; totals for a client invoice; a performance rating for someone I manage; a patient's chart and what to do next; a two-word yes to one email.
Our sort: the reminder is Claude's. The action items and invoice totals are Claude's, then yours to check. The rating, the chart and the two-word reply stay with you.
None of this is about Claude being bad at the work. It's about who answers for it. If your name goes on it, you check it.
Quick check
Checked against Claude on 2026-09-25.