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Instrument · Worksheet
The Rules of Engagement Check
A One-Page Instrument for Working with AI
CH-I-001 v0.3 · Published October 26, 2026
Michael D. Lapico · Capably Human · 4 min read
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- ID
- CH-I-001
- Version
- v0.3
- Type
- Instrument
- Kind
- Worksheet
- Published by
- Capably Human
- Author
- Michael D. Lapico
- First published
- October 26, 2026
- Reading time
- 4 min read
- Formats
- Web · PDF
Cite this publication
Capably Human Inc. (2026). The Rules of Engagement Check (CH-I-001, v0.3). capablyhuman.com/CH-I-001
© 2026 Capably Human Inc. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). You may use and adapt it for non-commercial purposes, with the full citation above. Adaptations must state what was changed, must be shared under the same licence, and may not be presented as the original Capably Human instrument. Commercial use, including paid workshops, training, coaching or consulting, and use in paid products, courses, software, or AI products and datasets, requires a licence from Capably Human Inc.
Short link capablyhuman.com/CH-I-001
TL;DR
Whether AI makes you more capable or quietly does your practice for you is not decided by the tool. It is decided by three calls you make, usually without noticing, every time you work with it: what you hand off and what you keep, what you take as given and what you check, and when you let it run and when you step in. This page makes the three calls visible. Run it in two minutes before a task that matters, and again when the work comes back. There is no score. What changes, over weeks, is the calls you make.
Working Definition
The one test behind every call: does this help support my effort, so that I still do the meaningful part and come out able to do it again, or substitute for it, so that the task gets done and I skip the rep? Both are legitimate. Only one builds capability. The worst case is substitution that believes it is support.
Audience
Who This Is For
Anyone who works with AI on something that matters to them: a decision at work, a draft, an analysis, an assignment, a plan. It needs no prior reading. The three rules come from The Capability Fitness Framework (CH-F-001), which sets out why capability develops through practice and how assistance can support or substitute for it, and from The Capability Model (CH-M-001), which names the specific ways delegating too early substitutes for practice. If you want the argument, follow those references. If you want to get better at working with AI, start here.
One thing to know before you begin: this check is as much about handing off more as about keeping more. If you have been doing everything yourself out of distrust, the honest answer to the second question below is a list. The aim is deliberate, never less.
Instrument
The Check
Before you hand it off: Delegate or Retain
- What part of this is the thinking I am responsible for, or the practice I would be sorry to lose? That part you keep: at least the first attempt, in your own words, before you ask. (A rough instinct counts. Write it down before you open the thread.) If I hand it over a hundred times, what will I be left able to do?
- What part is assembly, formatting, retrieval, or work I have done so many times there is nothing left to learn from it? That part goes to AI, without guilt.
- Am I delegating by importance, or by convenience? Convenience hands off whatever is hardest right now, which is often the part that matters. Importance hands off what does not need you.
Your call: I keep ______. AI does ______.
When it comes back: Trust or Challenge
- What in this output would change my decision if it were wrong? Check that part first: the load-bearing claim, number, or assumption. Everything else can wait.
- What is it assuming that I never told it, or that is not true in my situation? Fluent output reads as valid output. Name the assumption before you accept the conclusion.
- What would I ask a confident junior colleague who handed me this? Ask the AI the same: how sure are you, what is the source, what is the strongest case against this.
Your call: I take ______ as given. I check ______ before I act.
While it runs: Let it run or Step in
- Where is the point of no return? Sent, published, spent, committed, told. Step in before it, not after.
- What would tell me it has gone off course, and will I see it in time? If you cannot see it, do not let it run on its own. Has my attention drifted only because nothing has gone wrong yet?
- Could I still do this part myself if I had to? If the answer is no and the part matters to you, step in sometimes on purpose. The rep is what keeps the capability.
Your call: I let it run until ______. I step in at ______.
Afterward, one line
What is one thing I will keep doing myself, on purpose, and one thing I will hand to AI without guilt? Write it where you will see it next time.
Use
How to Use It
When. Before a task that matters, not before every task. Two minutes is the right length; if it takes longer, you are using it on something that did not need it. Run the first three questions before you open your assistant, the next three when the work comes back, and the last three whenever AI is doing something on its own: drafting ahead of you, running a sequence of steps, acting in your name.
It never stands between you and the help. “Just get me the answer” is always allowed. The check is for the work you want to come out of better at, not a toll on the work you want done.
Both directions count. Keeping more is not the goal; deciding is. A good call can be to hand off far more than you do today. The test is support or substitution, applied to the part that matters to you, not a preference for doing things the hard way.
No score. The check produces three calls, not a number. What is worth tracking, over weeks, is whether your calls change: what you now keep, how often you check, where you step in. That is what getting better at working with AI looks like from the outside.
Where it lives in Humably. Humably runs this check with you on your own work, names the call you made at the end of a session, and keeps the record over time, so you can see your way of working with AI changing. The check is also free on its own, for anyone, before any sign-up.
Worksheet
The Worksheet
| Rule | Ask | Good answers look like | Your call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delegate or Retain (before you hand it off) | What is the thinking I am responsible for? What is assembly? Am I delegating by importance or by convenience? | A first attempt in your own words before you ask; a clear list of what goes to AI, without guilt | I keep ___. AI does ___. |
| Trust or Challenge (when it comes back) | What would change my decision if wrong? What is it assuming? What would I ask a confident junior colleague? | The load-bearing claim checked first; one assumption named; one hard question asked of the AI | I take ___ as given. I check ___ before I act. |
| Let it run or Step in (while it runs) | Where is the point of no return? What would tell me it has gone off course? Could I still do this myself? | A stopping point set before the irreversible step; a signal you will actually see; a deliberate rep now and then | I let it run until ___. I step in at ___. |
| The test (every call) | Does this help support my effort, or substitute for it? | Honest about which, and content with substitution where the capability does not matter to you | Support / Substitution, and why |
Foundations
Why These Three
The three rules are the places where a person’s own practice is decided in any interaction with AI. They sit on the eight Human-Strengthening AI principles in CH-F-001: Delegate or Retain is Appropriate Delegation and Attempt Before Assistance made personal; Trust or Challenge is Visible Uncertainty and Questions Before Answers turned around to face the user; Let it run or Step in is Progressive Support and Capability Over Dependency applied to AI that acts on its own. The questions target the failure modes CH-M-001 names for the sub-skills most at risk: asking the AI to decide before stating a view of your own (T6), accepting facts and citations unverified (T3), adopting whatever framing comes back (T1), taking the one-keystroke exit from difficulty (F3), delegating by convenience rather than importance (F5), and moving on the moment output lands (A1).
The third rule is the least developed of the three and the one that matters most as AI starts to act rather than answer. It is the main job of the rules-of-engagement model, CH-M-002.
Scope
What This Instrument Is Not
It is not an assessment, a score, or a measure of anyone’s worth. It is not an argument for working with AI less. It is not a guarantee: whether practising the three calls builds capability over time is the question Capably Human’s trial program exists to test, and the answer will be published whichever way it comes out. Until then, the honest claim is narrower: the check makes three decisions visible that most people make by default, and a person who makes them deliberately is better at working with AI than one who does not.
History
Version History
0.3 — October 26, 2026. The three “your call” lines take the short form used by the worksheet, the book’s Appendix F, the model and the guide (“I take ___ as given. I check ___ before I act.” and “I let it run until ___. I step in at ___.”), so one form runs across the canon; “working with AI” in the scope note. Published with the model and the guide.
0.2 — October 26, 2026. Two wording fixes after the alignment with Heavy Lifting’s Appendix F: question 2 no longer uses “a hundred times” for routine work, so the phrase means one thing across the canon, what you are left able to do, and appears in question 1 in that sense; question 8 gains the book’s line on oversight decay, “Has my attention drifted only because nothing has gone wrong yet?” No other change.
0.1 — October 26, 2026. First draft, published ahead of the model (CH-M-002) and the guide (CH-G-002) so that people have something to use now. Nine questions in three groups, one test, a worksheet. To be revised against CH-M-002 and against first-user feedback.
Citation
Citation and Licence
Capably Human Inc. (2026). The Rules of Engagement Check (CH-I-001, v0.3). capablyhuman.com/CH-I-001
© 2026 Capably Human Inc. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). You may use and adapt it for non-commercial purposes, with the full citation above. Adaptations must state what was changed, must be shared under the same licence, and may not be presented as the original Capably Human instrument. Commercial use, including paid workshops, training, coaching or consulting, and use in paid products, courses, software, or AI products and datasets, requires a licence from Capably Human Inc.
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