How it works
One request path. Human still in the loop.
Map the real clocks, put a door on intake, then run request, context, approval, and exception with HITL. AI waits until that path works.
Truth clock vs reality clock
The truth clock is how long the work should take.
The reality clock is how long it takes when the request lives in chat, a sheet, and a pasted email.
Those clocks rarely match. The gap is the process, not the model.
The door is guided intake
One place in Workspace to ask.
Routing and a record from the first message.
No more hunting across threads to see who approved what.
The loop
Request, then context, then approval, then exception. Same path every time.
How a request moves
Intake, context, then humans on approval and exceptions.
Request
Intake lands
Context
Policy + history
Approval
Human in the loop
HITLException
Human in the loop
HITL
Where HITL sits
Humans stay on Approval and Exception.
That is the loop, not a later add-on.
Fractional CPO work lives here: design the path, sit on the hard cases, hand off a system people can run.
Where AI sits
AI comes after the first path works.
If the process is a mess, automation runs the mess faster.
Write the rails first. Then put an agent on the rails.