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Start / Learning Track 3
LEARNING TRACK 03

Autonomy and supervision

How much freedom to give, how to follow along, and when to level up.

2modules
12topics
105 minestimated time with practice
Practicalprogressive level
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Calculated levelClear limitsReports and alarmsProgress withevidence
How much freedom to give, how to follow along, and when to level up.

Track map

3.1~55 min

🧭 Autonomy with limits

Freedom is earned with evidence

3.2~50 min

🧭 Observation and supervision

What isn’t seen doesn’t improve

Detailed content

MODULE 3.1

Autonomy with limits

Decide how much the agent can do on its own with a fixed rule, not intuition.

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What it is

Autonomy is how much the agent can do without asking for your permission. The Agent Sheet uses five steps: N0 Consults (only researches and answers), N1 Recommends (prepares drafts and suggestions), N2 Prepares, you approve (gets everything ready, but nothing leaves without your OK), N3 Executes (acts on its own and reports back) and N4 Manages processes (runs an entire process, with a report and alarms). Each step above removes you from a decision and demands more control.

Why learn

The most common mistake is giving the agent the maximum step on day one, because the demo looked great. The ladder replaces the question “Do I trust the AI?” with “What evidence do I have for this step?”. It also names what you agree on with the team: “this agent is N2” says exactly what it can and can’t do.

Key concepts

  • N0 Consults: research and answer only—doesn’t touch anything.
  • N1 Recommends: prepares and suggests—the decision is yours.
  • N2 Prepares and you approve: nothing goes out without your explicit OK.
  • N3 and N4: executes on its own or runs the process, reporting back.
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What it is

The rule starts with the action: consult becomes N0, preparation becomes N1, execution becomes N3, coordinating a process becomes N4. Then comes the brake: if the level is 3 or higher and the task involves money, something irreversible, or people from outside, the level drops to N2. Irreversible is what can’t be undone—like a sent message or a deleted file. People from outside means anyone outside the team: customer, patient, supplier, family.

Why learn

These three risks are what turn a small error into losses, complaints, or a legal issue. An internal mistake you fix before anyone sees it; a wrong message sent to 200 patients doesn’t come back. That’s why it doesn’t matter how good the agent is: with any of the three, it prepares and you approve.

Key concepts

  • Money: discount, refund, charge, budget, proposal.
  • Irreversible: send, publish, delete, cancel.
  • People from outside: customer, patient, student, family, supplier.
  • Brake: any one of the three is enough to block and keep it at N2.
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What it is

An official source is the place the agent must treat as truth: the system’s agenda, the orders dashboard, the discipline syllabus. The rule has a second brake: if the level is above N1 and you haven’t defined the official source, it drops to N1. Without knowing where the truth is, the agent can only suggest, never act. This applies even to internal tasks with none of the three risks.

Why learn

An agent without a defined source fills in the gaps with what seems plausible: an old spreadsheet, a WhatsApp message, a guess. When it only suggests, you catch the mistake before it becomes an action. When it executes, the guess becomes the wrong purchase request or false information to the customer. Defining the source is what unlocks action—not the model’s quality.

Key concepts

  • Official source: the only place that counts as truth.
  • Doesn’t count: something that looks like a source, but isn’t, like an old spreadsheet.
  • If it’s missing: warn and don’t invent.
  • Brake: without a source, any level above N1 drops to N1.
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What it is

Prohibitions are a short list of things the agent does not do on its own at any level, even if someone asks insistently. They work like guardrails—a protective barrier: the agent can move freely within the lane, but it doesn’t cross the wall. Each prohibition needs to come with what to say when someone requests it, so the agent can refuse without being rude and pass the case to you.

Why learn

The level says how much it can do; the prohibitions say where it never goes. Without them, a polite customer can get a discount, a student can get a grade early, and someone can get a volunteer’s phone number. And without the refusal phrase, the agent either gets stuck or improvises an excuse. Prohibitions are also the first test before you activate the agent.

Key concepts

  • Short list: 3 to 5 prohibitions—the ones that cost the most if they happen.
  • Concrete verb: “give a discount,” not “be careful with prices.”
  • Refusal phrase: what it says when someone asks.
  • Escalate to you: every refusal becomes a note in the report.
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What it is

The level isn’t final: it goes up when there’s evidence and comes down when there’s doubt. Promotion criteria are fixed: from N1 to N2, defined official source and 2 weeks of drafts with no major errors; from N2 to N3, 4 straight weeks approving with no need to correct anything, and only on the part of the task that doesn’t involve risk; from N3 to N4, 2 months of clean reports and working alarms. If there’s a doubt between two levels, choose the lower one.

Why learn

Without criteria, promotion happens from exhaustion: you stop reviewing because “it’s always right” and, without noticing, the agent turned into N3. With criteria, the increase is a decision recorded—and explained to the team. And the rule only lowers on its own: the person who raises the level is you, with proof—never the agent or urgency.

Key concepts

  • N1 to N2: defined official source and 2 weeks of drafts with no errors.
  • N2 to N3: 4 weeks approving without correcting—only for the no-risk part.
  • N3 to N4: 2 months of clean reports and alarms working.
  • When in doubt, go down: the lowest level is always the safe answer.
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What it is

Now you apply the whole rule to three ready-made Agent Sheet cases from the gallery: the real estate company's lead triager, the restaurant's inventory controller, and the agency's campaign reporter. For each one, write down the action, the risks, and whether there is an official source, then calculate the level before opening the link. After that, compare with what the Agent Sheet calculated. The full gallery is at inematds.github.io/7pa/galeria/en/.

Why learn

Reading the rule is easy; applying it to real cases is what locks in the reasoning. The three cases were chosen because they represent three different levels: one stuck because of risk, one open because it's internal, and one that touches an entire process. If you get all three right, you can calculate the level of any task in your business.

Key concepts

  • Real estate: executes, with money and people from outside.
  • Restaurant: executes, internal, reversible, with a source.
  • Agency: coordinates an internal process, with a source.
  • Check: open the link and compare with your answer.
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MODULE 3.2

Observation and supervision

Track the agent with reports, a failure log, and triggers, and keep your judgment with you.

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What it is

A report is the summary the agent delivers at a scheduled time, saying what it did. A good report has a few simple numbers (how many sent, confirmed, pending), the list of cases it sent to you for decisions, and the list of errors. It fits on one screen and takes two minutes to read. The golden rule: error is never hidden—it always appears in its own section.

Why learn

Without a report, you only find out what the agent did when something goes wrong and someone complains. With a report, you see the problem the same day. A report that only shows success is worse than none: it creates false confidence. It’s from this that you decide whether the agent moves up or down a level.

Key concepts

  • Simple numbers: 3 to 5 counts you understand at a glance.
  • Cases sent to you: what needs human decision-making.
  • Errors: always in their own section, even if it’s “none.”
  • Fixed timing: every day or every week, always at the same time.
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What it is

The failure log is a simple table where each agent error becomes a row: date, what broke, the smallest correction, and which line in the Agent Sheet was changed. A log—technical name for this kind of record—is just that: a dated note of what happened. It’s not an incident report or meeting minutes; it’s one line, written on the spot, with no narrative.

Why learn

After about ten lines, the pattern appears on its own: the errors cluster around the same rule, the same source, or the same type of client. Without a log, each error looks new and you end up rewriting everything. With a log, you see that a single protection would have been enough—like a cap, an extra check, or an additional prohibition. It’s also the evidence to move the agent up or down a level.

Key concepts

  • Date: when the error was noticed.
  • What broke: the fact, in one sentence, with no blame.
  • Smallest correction: the smallest change that prevents repetition.
  • Rule changed: which line of the Agent Sheet changed.
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What it is

Triggers are the situations where the agent stops what it’s doing and calls you immediately, without waiting for the report. This is escalation, also called escalade: handing the case to whoever has authority to decide. Good triggers are concrete and observable, such as “client threatening to complain,” “drop above 50%,” or “two patients at the same time.” Each Agent Sheet should have 3 to 5 triggers.

Why learn

The report shows what happened; the trigger prevents the worst from happening before the report. Without triggers, the agent tries to solve on its own situations that require judgment—and that’s where serious complaints are born. Working triggers are also the criterion for reaching N4: without tested alarms, the whole process can’t be in the agent’s hands.

Key concepts

  • Concrete: something the agent can recognize without interpreting.
  • Urgent: it can’t wait for end-of-day reporting.
  • Clear action: it stops, alerts you, and doesn’t try to resolve it.
  • Tested: each trigger has been through a test before being turned on.
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What it is

Supervision isn’t just watching the agent work; it’s a short, fixed ritual. Every day: 2 minutes—read the report, handle the cases sent to you, and log errors in the failure log. Every week: 10 minutes—re-read the errors and adjust one single rule in the Agent Sheet. Every month: ask whether the level is still right and whether the task is still the same. Before turning it on, an extra step: the 3 tests passed, and the team knows there is an agent.

Why learn

Without a ritual, supervision happens only when something explodes—and by then it’s too late. With a ritual, the cost of supervision stays small and predictable, fitting into a business owner’s schedule. Adjusting one rule per week, not five, lets you know which change solved the problem.

Key concepts

  • Before turning it on: 3 tests, updated source, team informed.
  • Every day: 2 minutes in the report and in the cases sent to you.
  • Every week: 10 minutes and one rule adjusted.
  • Every month: is the level still correct, and is the task still the same?
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What it is

The agent executes, analyzes, and even decides within the limits of the Agent Sheet—but the responsibility for the outcome remains yours. Supervision here is the management function: set objectives, establish limits, evaluate results, correct failures, decide exceptions, and evolve the process. Auditing—checking by sampling that the work is correct—is part of that. The agent expands your capacity; it doesn’t replace your judgment.

Why learn

When something goes wrong with a client, “it was the AI” isn’t an acceptable answer for anyone: not for the client, not for the law, and not for you. Knowing what can’t be delegated prevents handing the agent decisions that require human context—like an exception for an old client or a sensitive case with a student. Your role shifts from doing everything to deciding what matters.

Key concepts

  • Judgment: exceptions, new cases, and dilemmas stay with you.
  • Auditing: check by sampling, even when the report is clean.
  • Limits: only you move the level up or remove a prohibition.
  • Responsibility: the outcome speaks in your name.
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What it is

The closing of the seven principles is a cycle: the agent executes, the report and the failure log show what happened, you analyze, adjust one rule in the Agent Sheet, and the agent goes back to execute with the new rule. Every well-documented error becomes one more line in the rules, in the prohibitions, in the triggers, or in the official source. Over time, the sheet becomes more accurate, and the agent can move up a level with evidence.

Why learn

Without the cycle, the same error comes back every month and the solution seems to be swapping tools or rewriting everything. With the cycle, each failure makes the system a little stronger, and the supervision effort decreases. That’s how an agent starts at N1 and, months later, runs a whole process safely.

Key concepts

  • Executes: the agent works within the agreed level.
  • Observes: the report and the failure log show what happened.
  • Adjusts: one rule at a time, the smallest possible correction.
  • Evolves: fewer errors, more evidence—maybe one level higher.
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