Module 2 of 8
Decision design
Define inputs, rules, and exceptions.
Before the tool, write the rules on paper: what comes in, what the agent decides, and what it does with each outcome. Most of the work is in the exceptions — the enquiry with no budget stated, the invoice in a currency you do not handle, the message that is actually a complaint.
For every rule, decide the default when the input is ambiguous. The safe default is almost always to stop and hand to a person rather than to guess. An agent that escalates too often is annoying; an agent that guesses confidently on the edge cases is the one that causes real damage.
Takeaway
Write the rules and the exceptions before opening the tool. When ambiguous, hand to a person rather than guess.