# Independent professional track — 14 days

## Target

A solo professional or micro-activity with a website, client inquiries, quotes, suppliers, or content production.

## Intended outcome

One low-risk workflow that is measured, reversible, and documented. The objective is not to create a general-purpose agent.

For a complete worked example, open the [14-day client follow-up case](../../examples/en/independent-client-follow-up.md).

## Days 1–2 — Choose the problem

- identify five repetitive tasks over one week;
- measure volume, minutes, and errors;
- exclude decisions involving health, employment, credit, rights, or other high-impact areas;
- complete the [mandate](../../templates/mandate.md) and a [use-case card](../../templates/use-case-card.md).

Good first cases include drafting a reply, summarizing public documents, structured extraction, or comparing suppliers with human validation.

## Days 3–4 — Data and tool

- list the data needed and the data that is prohibited;
- verify retention, training, region, and deletion with the supplier;
- choose among conventional automation, a simple model call, or controlled retrieval;
- keep passwords and secrets outside the context.

## Days 5–7 — Evaluations

- select 20 to 50 representative cases;
- define a correct response, an escalation, and a severe failure;
- set the threshold before testing;
- compare time, quality, and correction rate with the baseline.

## Days 8–10 — Shadow mode

Have the AI produce outputs without sending, publishing, or modifying anything. Review every result. Add newly discovered exceptions to the test set without retroactively changing the decision threshold.

## Days 11–12 — Copilot

Allow an action only after explicit confirmation. Before approving, the person must see the input, output, and destination.

## Days 13–14 — Decision

- continue if value and reliability are demonstrated;
- correct if a specific cause can be identified;
- stop if the case requires too much control or fails to outperform the simple process.

Keep a manual procedure, change log, versions, and costs. Reassess after any material model or data change.

## Minimum foundation

- owner: the independent professional;
- simple AI register;
- backup and manual fallback;
- data rules;
- reusable tests;
- monthly review of cost, errors, and value.