Five-Stage Pipeline Template
The full pipeline at a glance — input, tools, output, and verification checkpoint for each stage. Use as a reference while you work, or download the run sheet to fill in alongside your own project.
Download pipeline run sheetVerification runs through every stage and every handoff — not just at the beginning. When Perplexity returns a statistic, verify it. When the LLM structures a narrative, check the causal chain. When a derivative output adapts the framing, confirm the evidence underneath has not shifted.
Gather and verify the evidence base before structuring anything.
Input
Source material
- —Keynote, report, or document
- —Transcript or notes
Tools
Output
Verified claims
- —Confirmed / Updated / Revised status
- —Source + date for each
✓ Verification: Every statistic traced to a named primary source. No figures used whose origin cannot be identified.
Organize verified claims into one authoritative reference file — the Ground Truth Document.
Input
Verified claims
- —From Stage 1
- —Status-tagged, sourced
Tools
Output
Ground Truth Document
- —Claim + figure + source + date + thread
- —Hero metric and inciting incident identified
✓ Verification: Every entry has a verifiable source and date. No unverified claims. If it is not here, it does not go in the output.
Choose audience, apply value framing, build the Story Spine. Same Ground Truth — different narrative path.
Input
Ground Truth Document + audience
- —From Stage 2
- —Target audience + value frame defined
Tools
Output
Story Spine
- —Audience-matched narrative arc
- —Emotionally calibrated to the room
✓ Verification: Every fact in the Story Spine must be in the Ground Truth. Flag any AI-generated number not traceable to the document.
Create finished deliverables using the right tool for each audience, channel, and stakes level.
Input
Story Spine + channel decision
- —From Stage 3
- —Format and delivery channel chosen
Tools
Output
Finished deliverables
- —Decks, charts, interactives
- —Audio and video summaries
✓ Verification: Every statistic in deliverables traced to Ground Truth. AI-generated visuals and text reviewed for accuracy before publish.
Decompose primary outputs into derivative assets for multiple audiences and channels — all tracing to the same Ground Truth.
Input
Primary deliverable
- —From Stage 4
- —Plus: new audience / channel targets
Tools
Output
Derivative assets
- —Audience-specific formats at scale
- —All traceable to the same Ground Truth
✓ Verification: Each derivative reviewed independently. When Ground Truth updates, all downstream outputs inherit the correction.
The pipeline advantage
When the data updates — a new disaster count, a revised carbon budget, new disease studies — you update the Ground Truth Document once. All downstream outputs inherit the correction. This is the difference between one-off content creation and a repeatable system.
The pipeline you walk through manually is the same logic that agentic tools are beginning to automate. Understanding it manually means you can evaluate, troubleshoot, and improve automated workflows — or recognize when they break.
Downloads
Fill-in-the-blanks template for all five stages — verification table, Ground Truth Document, two Story Spines, tool selections, and multiplication matrix.
module-5-pipeline-run.md
Stage-by-stage verification checklist ensuring every handoff is clean — for any source, any project.
module-5-pipeline-checklist.md