Before you begin
Begin in recommendation or shadow mode. Let a person approve the action while you measure performance.
Define which decisions are reversible and which always require explicit approval.
Design the review and approval process
Some workflows should begin with recommendations, not autonomous actions.
Use an approval step when the app can
Change access
Move money
Send an external message
Update an official record
Make a regulated determination
Reject a person or request
Trigger an irreversible process
Act on incomplete or conflicting information
Define
Who can approve?
What evidence must they see?
Which cases can follow the normal path?
Which cases always require review?
What gets recorded in the decision log?
How can the action be reversed?
A good first production mode is shadow mode. The app produces the recommendation beside the existing process, but does not execute it. Compare the results, correct the rules, and measure performance before increasing autonomy.
Common mistakes
Allowing the model to approve its own high-risk action.
Failing to show the reviewer the evidence and rule.
Creating an approval step with no response-time owner or escalation path.
Frequently asked questions
What is shadow mode?
The application produces a recommendation beside the existing process but does not execute the action. This lets the team compare results and correct rules safely.
Which actions should always require approval?
Irreversible, regulated, financial, external, access-changing, or high-impact actions should have explicit approval unless a documented policy says otherwise.