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# Use a Spreadsheet to Review and Approve Your AI Agent’s Work
- URL: https://johnwlittle.com/use-a-spreadsheet-to-review-and-approve-your-ai-agents-work/
- Published: 2026-10-16T08:16:37.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-16T08:16:37.000Z
- Description: Ask for recommendations, add your own notes, and approve the changes you want. Then have the agent work through the list.
- Author: John Little
- Tags: AI, HowTo, Agentic AI, Technology

You may want an AI agent to do the heavy lifting without giving it free rein to change things. Some of its recommendations will make sense right away. Others may need a tweak, or depend on context you haven’t shared yet.

Inserting a spreadsheet into your agent’s workflow gives you a chance to review its recommendations before anything changes. The agent does the initial review, you decide what should happen, and then it carries out the approved work. That extra checkpoint helps prevent surprises without making you supervise every step.

## Ask for the review first

Start by explaining what you want reviewed and what matters to you. Be clear that you want recommendations at this stage, not changes.

Ask the agent to put its findings in a spreadsheet with a few useful columns:

- The item and a link to it
- The agent’s feedback
- The suggested change
- Space for your input
- An approval checkbox
- A separate status or result field

Each row should describe a change you can make a clear decision about. If a recommendation bundles several changes together, ask the agent to split them up.

The request can be simple: “Review these items and put your recommendations in a spreadsheet. Include space for my notes and an approval checkbox beside each proposed change. Don’t make any changes until I tell you to process the approved rows.”

## Make it your working list

Once the sheet is ready, review it at your own pace. Follow the links when you need more context. Add a comment, revise a suggestion, or ask the agent to look into something further.

Check the items you want it to carry out and leave the others unchecked. You don’t have to decide everything at once. An empty checkbox might mean “not yet,” so the agent should leave those rows alone.

Your notes matter, too. If you approve a suggestion with a modification, the agent should follow that instruction rather than its original recommendation.

## Send it back for action

When you’re ready, explicitly ask the agent to process the approved items. If your comments are unclear, it should ask before proceeding. If something has changed enough to affect your decision, it should bring that item back to you.

Then have it verify the changes and record the results. Keep approval separate from completion so you can see what actually happened, including anything blocked or unfinished.

You end up with the recommendations, your decisions, and the results in one place. The agent takes on much of the work, while you keep a clear say in what gets changed.