Divide Complex Work into Controlled Stages

Work through the explanation, apply it to the example, and complete the quick check before continuing.

One large request can hide several tasks

Consider:

Research three training providers, choose the best one, write the contract, and send it for signature.

This request combines search, extraction, comparison, decision, legal drafting, and action. Each part has different evidence and authority.

A single response hides the points where people should review or decide.

Build a staged workflow

A safer version may be:

1. Define approved requirements and source rules.
2. Find candidate providers from permitted sources.
3. Extract evidence into a comparison table.
4. Have the programme owner confirm that the evidence is complete.
5. Draft a non-binding recommendation with uncertainties.
6. Let the authorised team choose a provider.
7. Send the decision to the legal/procurement process for contract work.
8. Require authorised approval before any message or signature request is sent.

Each stage has an input, output, check, and owner.

Preserve human decisions

Human approval should not be a decorative click at the end.

The reviewer needs:

• Authority to make the decision.
• Relevant evidence.
• Time to inspect it.
• Clear criteria.
• Ability to reject, revise, stop, or escalate.

If the system has already taken an irreversible action, later review is not meaningful approval.

One response, workflow, or agent

Use one response for bounded reversible drafting.

Use a controlled workflow when different tools and checks belong at different stages.

A tool-using or agentic system may execute several stages, but that does not remove stage boundaries. It increases the need for limited access, confirmation, logging, monitoring, and stop conditions.

Specify the handoffs

For each stage, write:

• Input.
• Allowed tool or method.
• Output.
• Review criterion.
• Owner or approver.
• Stop condition.

This makes responsibility visible and supports later investigation if something fails.

Worked stage

Stage 2: Extract every stated requirement from the approved brief into a table. Use only the brief. Mark unclear items as Needs owner decision. Do not score providers. The programme owner checks the table before provider research begins. Stop if the brief contains conflicting requirements.

The stage is bounded, inspectable, and does not steal the later decision.

Remember

• Split mixed work by task, evidence, tool, and authority.
• Put review before consequential or irreversible action.
• Define each handoff and owner.
• More automation does not remove human responsibility.

Next, we will learn how to revise a specification after seeing a weak output.