Adult operator field guide
Six operating stages · one decision record
Use AI without outsourcing judgment.
A professional operating guide for moving from a useful AI idea to bounded work with ownership, evidence, exception handling, and a reviewable outcome.
01
Frame the decision
State the operating problem, desired outcome, decision owner, and what remains human judgment.
02
Set the boundary
Define approved inputs, prohibited data, allowed actions, and the conditions that stop the workflow.
03
Build the instruction
Give the task context, source hierarchy, output contract, and examples of acceptable work.
04
Test the edges
Use normal, ambiguous, adversarial, and failure cases before relying on the workflow.
05
Name the review
Assign who checks the output, what evidence they need, and how exceptions escalate.
06
Verify the outcome
Compare the result with the agreed baseline and write the lesson back into the operating record.
Ready check
- One accountable owner
- Approved data and tool boundary
- Source and output contract
- Edge cases and rollback tested
- Outcome verified against a baseline
