Lessons / Intermediate

Give it a decision rule

The fastest way to make an AI assistant feel like a partner instead of a tool: give it a decision rule, so it stops asking you trivial either/or questions and just makes the call.

A simple, powerful one is Quality > Speed > Cost — when a choice comes up while it's working for you, it ranks the options by that and picks, telling you what it chose and why. You only get pulled in for genuine judgment calls.

But "more autonomy" isn't always the goal. The best decision rules also draw an auto-vs-escalate line: reversible, low-stakes choices → just make the call; irreversible or relationship-sensitive ones — sending an external email, moving money, anything you can't take back — → surface it and wait for you. A great rule isn't "decide everything," it's "decide the safe stuff, escalate the rest." Tell it where your line is.

Try it now

Hand it your ranking explicitly:

From now on, when a choice comes up while you're working for me, rank it Quality > Speed > Cost. If that ranking gives a clear answer, just make the call and tell me what you chose and why — don't ask me. Only ask when it's a real judgment call. Remember this.

Then give it a task with an embedded either/or and watch it decide instead of stopping to ask.

You've got it when…

On an ambiguous task, it made a settled call and stated its reasoning — instead of handing the decision back to you. That's the difference between a tool and a teammate.

Quiz — did it land?

Your tutor checks these before marking the lesson complete:

1. What does handing the agent "Quality > Speed > Cost" let it stop doing?
2. Where's your auto-vs-escalate line — name one thing it should always decide itself, and one it should always check with you first.