Shape the document before refining it
This is a recommendation, not a requirement. Use it when an agent-created document is difficult to hold in mind or inspect directly.
The recommendation
When a document feels overwhelming, reshape it before reviewing its details. Give it one primary object of attention. Use chat to direct that transformation, not as a permanent substitute for reading the document.
A person should eventually be able to inspect an important artifact without first asking an agent what it says. If the document still needs a conversational summary before it can be used, its shape may not be finished.
Work in two phases
Coarse shaping: say what the document is for. Remove material that performs another job. A contract, its change history, and recommendations are three objects of attention even when they concern the same work. Keep the primary artifact intact and move the other jobs into clearly named, linked documents.
Detailed refinement: once the document is mentally manageable, review its substance. Challenge individual clauses, claims, wording, omissions, and decisions.
Do not begin with line edits when the document's topology is still wrong. Reshaping the whole artifact is cheap with an agent and often removes the apparent need for many local corrections.
Two modes of knowledge
Some knowledge is mainly agent-mediated. A person may rarely open it, but it should still be concise, current, and easy for agents to retrieve.
Other documents are artifacts a person must judge directly, such as contracts, plans, decisions, or drafts. Their content and presentation must support sustained human inspection.
These are modes of use, not document types. The same document can move between them as the work changes.
Shape the information topology
Information topology is the arrangement of existing flat documents and directed references around an outcome. It determines where questions begin, where evidence lives, how synthesis happens, and which document owns the resulting understanding. It is not hierarchy, and it is not a document type or schema. The same document may participate in several outcome-relative topologies.
A good topology reduces how much context a person or agent must load, makes updates flow to the right owner, and prevents repeated processing of undifferentiated material. Length is not the only source of strain: a short document can still mix several purposes, voices, or timeframes. Split by object of attention, not mechanically by size.
Possible arrangements include convergence, branching, pipelines, feedback loops, comparisons, and attention views. Common document topologies explains where each shape may help. Treat them as provisional views whose value comes from the flow of understanding, not as prescribed structures.
Use references to preserve the relationship between the resulting documents. Put each reference beside the statement it supports, following Keep references close to what they support. A future lens may show several related documents together, but composition works best when each underlying document already has a clear job.
A small loop
Say the one thing the document is for.
Ask the agent which parts perform a different job.
Rewrite the document or split those jobs into linked documents.
Read the primary document without a conversational summary.
If it is still hard to hold in mind, shape it again.
Only then refine the details.
The document's purpose should also be explicit. Follow Say what a document is answerable to. When newer understanding has accumulated around an older shape, follow Distill, do not accrete.
A useful prompt
Ask your agent: "Shape this into one document I can inspect directly. Identify its primary purpose. Move commentary, recommendations, history, and supporting material that perform another job into clearly named, linked documents. Rewrite the primary document before refining individual details."