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Software Behaviorby Joost van der Zwan
Index

Framework · Loop · from Chapter 3

Negotiated Software Loop

Describes the new contract between user and machine in probabilistic systems: intent, interpretation, suggestion, review, delegation, report back, correction, adaptation.
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The framework

Fig. · Negotiated Software Loop
  1. Intent (Person): The user arrives with a goal, often only partially specified; the product treats it as intention, not always as complete instruction.
  2. Interpretation (System): The system forms a working understanding from the request, context, defaults, history, and available data.
  3. Suggestion (System): The system proposes an output, action, classification, draft, or next step, framed according to confidence and stakes.
  4. Review (Person): The user evaluates whether the suggestion fits the goal, context, and consequences.
  5. Delegation (Person): The user hands the system bounded work to carry out: what it may touch, how far it may go, and when it must stop and ask. Optional; when it happens, the grant is as legible as the suggestion.
  6. Report back (System): The system returns an account of what it did, skipped, assumed, and could not undo; for delegated work, the report is the review surface.
  7. Correction (Person): The user edits, rejects, redirects, accepts, or clarifies what the system produced.
  8. Adaptation (System): The system changes what it does next based on the correction; the change may be temporary, durable, or global.

Each correction changes the next interpretation.

  1. 01

    Intent

    The user arrives with a goal, often only partially specified; the product treats it as intention, not always as complete instruction.

  2. 02

    Interpretation

    The system forms a working understanding from the request, context, defaults, history, and available data.

  3. 03

    Suggestion

    The system proposes an output, action, classification, draft, or next step, framed according to confidence and stakes.

  4. 04

    Review

    The user evaluates whether the suggestion fits the goal, context, and consequences.

  5. 05

    Delegation

    The user hands the system bounded work to carry out: what it may touch, how far it may go, and when it must stop and ask. Optional; when it happens, the grant is as legible as the suggestion.

  6. 06

    Report back

    The system returns an account of what it did, skipped, assumed, and could not undo; for delegated work, the report is the review surface.

  7. 07

    Correction

    The user edits, rejects, redirects, accepts, or clarifies what the system produced.

  8. 08

    Adaptation

    The system changes what it does next based on the correction; the change may be temporary, durable, or global.

4 · Do

How to use it

Map an AI-assisted feature against this loop, then write a seam sentence: exact when ____, negotiated when ____, user control when ____.

5 · Save

The Product Architect · Negotiated Software Loop

Framework · Loop