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Managing human in the loop

Lesson 3 of 11 · 3 min 52 s. Episode 3 of the Jaah tutorial series: start a task Guided, answer the agent's questions when it stops to ask, find every answer in Q&A, then talk an idea through in a chat with an advisor that has read the code, and complete it.

Before you start​

  • You have done Task basics and are signed in to the console.
  • You have a project you can start tasks in. The lesson uses TimeSaver, a time-tracking app for small teams.

Steps​

  1. Open the new-task form in your project and describe the work, including which decision stays yours. The lesson's description is: Let people archive a project they no longer use, so it stops showing in the project picker. Check with me before deciding what happens to its entries. That last sentence tells the agent which decision belongs to you.
  2. Under the description, look at the second choice, how involved you want to be. It has three positions: Unattended lets the agent decide everything and come back when it's finished; Guided has it stop and ask you before any decision that matters, then carry on with your answer; Chat builds nothing and opens a conversation with an advisor who has read the code. Leave Guided chosen, the form's default.
  3. Press Go. The agent starts by reading the code to work out what the request involves, and when it reaches a decision you've kept for yourself, it writes the question down with the options it sees.
  4. Watch the task's line on Tasks. A few minutes later its mark changes and the task is asking: the work waits for you from here, anyone on the team can see a person is needed, and the agent keeps everything it has worked out so you can answer when it suits you.
  5. Open the task; it opens on its questions. Each question says what the agent needs to decide, and under it are the options it sees, each with a line on what it would mean and the one it recommends first. To answer, click an option, or write your own answer in the box above them if none is quite right. Once every question has an answer, the agent picks the work back up.
  6. Open Activity, then Q&A. Here is every question the agent asked, the options it offered, and the one you chose, with who answered and when. It's the record to point to when someone asks, months later, why the change works the way it does.
  7. When the work is finished, open Details. The Outcome says what was built, and it follows the answers you gave: the agent settled the small decisions itself and brought you the ones that were yours to make, and the change passed the team's tests like any other.
  8. When you're not ready to ask for a change yet, start a chat instead. On Tasks, open the arrow beside New Task and choose Chat. The same form opens with Chat already chosen. The lesson's question is: We're thinking about letting people use TimeSaver on a laptop and a phone with the same entries. What would that take, and what's the smallest first step?
  9. Press Go. An advisor takes the conversation on and reads the code before it answers, so what it tells you is about your team's app as it stands today.
  10. When the answer is ready, the chat's mark shows it's waiting for you. Click the mark, and the conversation opens beside the list. The answer covers what it would take in the app as it's built today, the choices you'd have to make, and where the work would start.
  11. Carry on as you would with a colleague. The lesson's follow-up is: Most of the team uses one laptop and one phone. Which first step would you pick? The advisor answers from the same reading of the code, and you can keep going until the plan is clear.
  12. When you have what you need, open the menu on the chat's line and choose Complete. The chat is marked finished, and the first step it suggested is ready to become an ordinary task.

What you learned​

  • Choose Unattended when the work is clear, Guided when some decisions are yours, and Chat when you want to think first.
  • A Guided task stops to ask: its mark shows it's asking, you answer by clicking an option or writing your own, and the agent carries on.
  • Every question and answer is kept under Activity, then Q&A.
  • A chat with an advisor is completed from the menu on its line once the plan is clear.

Next​

Next lesson: How to get exactly what you want. Previous: Task sizing.

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