Reference: 11 of 12
A Person in the Loop
A person in the loop is a point where the workflow stops and asks you to look, because only a person can judge it, such as whether a summary is fair. Automatic checks run first, so you read only work that has already passed them.
The work
The steps do the work and hand over a draft.
In a Real Template
The hand-off template ends with two checks that are yours to make. One of them stops the work until you have done it.
You checked it for private detailsRead the final hand-over yourself, line by line, as if it might be forwarded. Is there anything in it you would not want a stranger to see?Stop here. Fix the problem before you go on to the next step.What to notice: An automatic check can look for a password, but only you know what you would not want a stranger to read. So the template asks you one plain question and waits.
From the template Hand off a task to someone else.
Easy to Mix Up
- An automatic checkA plain rule or a second look by the AI. It runs without you, and it cannot judge fairness or a promise.
- Checking everything yourselfReading every result from top to bottom is a different job. A person in the loop looks only where judgment is needed.
- Approving the resultThe question is specific, such as whether the summary is fair to both teams. A general look at the result is not a check.