Human in the loop

Human in the loop is the design principle in which a person reviews, corrects or approves what a machine produces before it has consequences. The book states it as a posture rather than a process: adopt, but keep your hands on the wheel. The machine amplifies judgement. It does not supply it.

Where the hands go changes by task. In the productive register the human checks the output. In the creative register the human does the cull. In the collaborative register the human has to be expert enough to know when the machine is wrong, which is not a review step but a qualification. The Tri-Skills tool carries the same rule in its own instructions: it amplifies judgement and does not replace it, never records a competence rung the evidence does not support, and ends every report by saying that the coaching conversation and the decision belong to the people in the room.