Defend a proposal with trade-offs
When does a faster process violate the service requirement?
Entering midway? Revisit Separate a result from its explanation for the preceding worked example, or start here and use the explanation below.
Start with a concrete question
Compare fictional service plans with setup time, per-case work and explicitly assumed unresolved-case rates.
Try the initial inputs, then write a prediction before changing one setting. All calculations run locally on your CPU.
What do you expect?
Before changing a setting: When does a faster process violate the service requirement? Write what you expect and why.
Change one thing. Inspect what happens.
- Compare all plans at 100 cases.
- Set a requirement of at most two expected unresolved cases.
- Change workload and identify setup-cost effects.
- Write a proposal naming the chosen plan, rejected alternatives, assumptions and follow-up metric.
Your settingsMechanism
Calculation belowEvidence
Compare outcomes
Follow the calculation
- Plan: manual. Setup=0 minutes; each case=6 minutes.
- 100 cases × 0% assumed unresolved rate = 0 expected unresolved cases.
- Rates are teaching assumptions; time and unresolved cases are different outcomes, not one quality score.
Defend a recommendation with a workload, a tolerable failure bound and a measurement plan. The fastest plan may violate the service requirement.
Draft a decision proposal
State workload, service requirement, selected plan, alternatives, costs, unresolved cases and a stop or review condition. Use your captured comparison.
75/8,000 characters. Drafts save locally and are included in backups. Importing or opening a draft never runs it.
Compare with my earlier draft
Automate everything because it is faster. The details can be decided later.
Explain what you changed and why in your observation notes. Text differences do not establish quality.
Inspect an example solution after your attempt
At 100 cases and a ceiling of two expected unresolved cases, reviewed automation uses 420 staff-minutes and expects two unresolved cases. Manual work uses 600 minutes and zero; unreviewed automation uses 180 minutes but expects ten. Pilot reviewed automation and inspect actual unresolved cases before expanding.
This is one worked example. Test another input and explain its limitations.
Captures keep your inputs, prediction and observation. Results are recalculated from those inputs. Resetting inputs keeps your captures and challenge history.
Explain the mechanism
Defend a proposal with trade-offs
Compare fictional service plans with setup time, per-case work and explicitly assumed unresolved-case rates.
Follow the mechanism
Manual work has no setup cost here but consumes six minutes per case.
Reviewed automation costs 120 setup minutes plus three minutes per case, with an assumed 2% unresolved rate.
Expected failures are averages under assumptions, not guarantees; explain how observed outcomes would change the recommendation.
Worked example
Plan: manual. Setup=0 minutes; each case=6 minutes.
100 cases × 0% assumed unresolved rate = 0 expected unresolved cases.
Rates are teaching assumptions; time and unresolved cases are different outcomes, not one quality score.
Calculation
Staff minutes = setup minutes + cases × minutes per case; expected unresolved = cases × assumed unresolved rate.
Try a controlled comparison
Compare all plans at 100 cases.
Set a requirement of at most two expected unresolved cases.
Change workload and identify setup-cost effects.
Write a proposal naming the chosen plan, rejected alternatives, assumptions and follow-up metric.
What this does not establish
- All messages, people, documents and outcomes here are original fictional teaching fixtures; results are not measurements of real organizations.
Try a fresh case
A reviewed process needs 90 setup minutes and 4 minutes for each of 30 cases. What is its total staff time?
This is a public practice check. Retries support learning; matching a number does not certify independent proficiency.
Take the investigation further
Choose any extension. These are project prompts for you to carry out; they are not automatically assessed.
School investigation
Create a new case with different numbers and explain your decision to a classmate.
College investigation
Implement or analyze a fresh case, document assumptions and compare at least two alternatives.
Workplace investigation
Prepare a decision artifact with evidence, operating constraints, an owner and a follow-up measurement.
Keep the evidence, choose your next step
Completion records your own decision that you have worked through this investigation. Practice checks and independent project evidence are separate.