Design the approval gate before anything leaves the firm
Lesson 2 of 5 · Workflows & automation
1 · Learn the move · Constraints + negative instructions
An automation that drafts is a tool; one that sends is a signatory. Every workflow in this practice has one gate, placed before the first step that reaches a client, a reviewer's signature or the Service: a human reads the whole artifact, checks it against a short list (de-identified, no figure the source did not carry, every authority VERIFY), and approves or sends it back. Design the gate first; the steps on either side are easy.
Design the approval gate for my [workflow]: where it sits, what the approver sees, the checklist they run, what 'send back' means, and what is logged. Nothing passes the gate without a person.
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
Your document-reminder automation has been drafting for a month and you want it to start sending. Before it does, design the gate - and decide what it does when nobody is there to approve.
Write the prompt for this scenario as given, or swap in a real one from your own work. The score works the same either way.
Remember: the AI sees only your prompt, not this page. If the situation isn't in your prompt, it doesn't exist.
Optional. These shape the output when you run your prompt below, not your score.