Consulting Practice
Keep proposal commitments human-owned
A proposal assistant can summarize scope, but price, timeline, and contractual promises must remain with the consultant.
Decision architecture
Free Canadian small business workbook
Decision Guardrail Canvas
Separate what AI may recommend, draft, route, or execute from what must remain human-owned.
7 pages · PDF workbook · No email required
Preview the complete PDF All 7 pages · Free to explore
Scroll through the full workbook below. Download the PDF for selectable text, printing and your own working copy.
What’s inside
A working guide
for a real decision.
Separate what AI may recommend, draft, route, or execute from what must remain human-owned. Use this guide to make the operating choice explicit, test it with evidence, and record who owns the next decision.
Who this is for
Customer, sales, finance, HR, or advisory workflows with business risk.
Bring the people who own the work
Include the workflow owner, a person who performs the work, a reviewer with authority to approve or stop it, and the relevant data or tool owner.
Includes an explainer, working worksheet, three illustrative examples and practical considerations. This is a planning PDF, not prebuilt automation software.
Use it with your own work
Five questions
to work through.
Choose one workflow. Record enough context to support a decision, then use the worksheet to name the owner, evidence and next review.
Scope
What is in and out of scope for decision guardrail canvas?
Information
Which approved sources and permissions are required?
Authority
Who can review, approve, override, or stop this work?
Failure
What happens when evidence, quality, tools, or ownership fail?
Proof
What result would justify continuing or expanding?
Illustrative examples from the workbook
Where this becomes practical.
Independent Retailer
Separate reorder advice from purchase authority
A recommendation may be useful, yet the owner must approve supplier orders and cash commitments.
Accounting Practice
Keep advice with the professional
A client brief may organize figures, but financial advice and filing choices require professional judgment.
- AI-supported role
- Draft or recommend within an explicit decision-rights table and surface every proposed action for review.
- Human authority
- The accountable owner approves consequential decisions, external commitments, and exceptions.
- What to measure
- Track approvals, overrides, unauthorized actions prevented, and decisions lacking a named owner.
Illustrative scenarios, not client results or a promise of performance. The workbook includes additional case-specific prompts.
A useful first step
Use the workbook.
Bring us the next question.
Download and use it without booking a call. If you want help applying it, email Chris with the workflow you’re considering and what you want to improve.
Discuss your workflowFurther reading in the library
General operational guidance only. These resources are not legal, privacy, cybersecurity or regulatory advice.