Before I let an agent take action, I always check these five things.
It’s not that I don’t trust it. It’s that checking takes far less time than regretting it. I turned these five checks into a list and go through it every time:
1. Asset changes: What’s going out and what’s coming in? Are the amounts and directions correct?
2. New permissions: Has an extra permission been added that I never granted?
3. Spending limits: If there’s an approval, is it one-time or unlimited?
4. Fees: Roughly how much are they, and are they in the range I expected?
5. What happens if it fails: Will the funds be returned, or get stuck halfway?
The first four take just a quick glance. The fifth is the easiest to overlook, but the most important to ask about.
I learned this the hard way once: an operation failed, and I thought nothing had happened. But my assets were locked in an intermediate state, and I had to take another action to unlock them. Since then, “What happens if it fails?” has been one of my must-ask questions.
You don’t need to memorize these five checks. Just make a checklist once and put it somewhere visible. Useful checks don’t rely on memory—they rely on process.
How many items are on your checklist?
#ProofOfAgent #14571
It’s not that I don’t trust it. It’s that checking takes far less time than regretting it. I turned these five checks into a list and go through it every time:
1. Asset changes: What’s going out and what’s coming in? Are the amounts and directions correct?
2. New permissions: Has an extra permission been added that I never granted?
3. Spending limits: If there’s an approval, is it one-time or unlimited?
4. Fees: Roughly how much are they, and are they in the range I expected?
5. What happens if it fails: Will the funds be returned, or get stuck halfway?
The first four take just a quick glance. The fifth is the easiest to overlook, but the most important to ask about.
I learned this the hard way once: an operation failed, and I thought nothing had happened. But my assets were locked in an intermediate state, and I had to take another action to unlock them. Since then, “What happens if it fails?” has been one of my must-ask questions.
You don’t need to memorize these five checks. Just make a checklist once and put it somewhere visible. Useful checks don’t rely on memory—they rely on process.
How many items are on your checklist?
#ProofOfAgent #14571