INSTRUMENT 17 · PROHIBITED LIST & SIGNATURE TEST

What must never be automated here?

Some decisions must stay with a named human — because a signature, sign-off or waiver is required. Below is a starting list of those decisions. Describe a task you're considering handing to AI or automation, and this checks it against the list.

DECISIONS THAT STAY WITH A HUMAN · 9 ITEMS

  • Approve product conformity
  • Release product or process
  • Sign a quality record
  • Waive a requirement
  • Disposition non-conforming product
  • Accept residual risk
  • Close a corrective action
  • Set severity, occurrence or detection ratings
  • Stop or start a production line

SIGNATURE TEST

WAITING

Describe a task above to test it against the list.

RED IS USED HERE ONLY: the stop-line marks a prohibited or refused decision.

WHY THIS INSTRUMENT EXISTS

Some quality decisions — product release, safety judgement, contractual sign-off, disciplinary action — do not become delegable to a tool no matter how well that tool measures. The boundary is about where accountability legally and contractually sits, not about confidence in the technology.

Publishing that boundary as an explicit, checkable list, and testing it against real decision points, is what keeps an operator from discovering it only after something has already gone wrong.

§3.1 Human decision boundaries in quality work§7.3 The reviewer interface is part of the control§10.5 Visual inspection assistance§3.4 Documenting the decision, not just the output§7.4 Guardrails and rules as a control layer