Dictionary · Automation
Human gate
A human gate is a required, named human approval placed in front of any irreversible automated action — before execution, not review after. It is the fifth element of LEANTA's automation discipline, alongside the four guards (verification, monitoring, fallback, cost cap).
Irreversible? → a person approves before it executes.
The gate exists because guards make an automation safe to run, but they don't decide what it's allowed to do alone. Sending money, deleting records, publishing in your name — anything you can't undo in one step waits for a person, every time, no matter how good the automation's track record is.
Sources: LEANTA method · Bainbridge (1983)
Reading it on the floor
The irreversibility test
One question sorts every action: can this be undone in one step? Reversible → run unattended, guarded. Irreversible → gate. The test is about the action class, not the confidence level — a 99.9%-reliable automation still gates, because the 0.1% is unrecoverable.
Gate ≠ “human in the loop”
“Human in the loop” is a posture; a gate is a mechanism: a named person, a named action class, approval before execution. Review-after is not a gate — by then the money has moved.
What always gates
Money out. Record deletion. Anything published under your name. Anything a customer sees. The list is short, explicit, and agreed before the automation is switched on — not negotiated during an incident.
The operator’s layer is open while the dictionary is in launch.
One click unlocks it on every term — the read-it-on-the-floor guidance under each definition: the first lever, the common misreading, what good looks like.
Free during launch · later this layer joins the Field Notes subscription · a new term lands every fortnight.
LEANTA Dictionary
A new term lands every fortnight.
Definitions are free and stay free. The operator’s layer — the judgment under each term — is open during launch. Get new terms and Field Notes before they’re on every floor.