Chapter 7 — Practice-on-your-own hints

From Hand-Built to AI-Directed: What Changes, What Doesn't • Companion page • Last updated 2026-07-18

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Short diagnostic hints for the two Practice on your own problems in this chapter. Attempt each problem before opening the hint. Complete answers appear in Appendix G of The Defensible Decision: Practice Workbook.

Problem 1 — the five-principle blind spot

Restated: Which of the five Part I principles do you think you are weakest at applying to your own recent charts? Not the one you feel best about; the one you have been quietly avoiding. Name it. Then predict, in one sentence per Part II chapter, which Part II failure mode you are most likely to miss because of that specific blind spot. Chapter 13 will return to this list.

Show a diagnostic hint

Diagnostic cue. Use the five Part I principles as the review rubric before treating AI output as a finished artifact.

Complete answers appear in Appendix G of The Defensible Decision: Practice Workbook.

Problem 2 — the role-shift honesty check

Restated: For your last three AI-directed charts (or, if you have not directed any yet, three AI-generated charts you have consumed), name whether you acted as author (took over all authorship after seeing the draft), director (used the draft as first pass and issued specific corrections), or bystander (shipped what the AI produced with minor edits). Name the pattern. If the pattern is bystander on high-stakes charts, name what changes in the next chart cycle to move up the ladder.

Show a diagnostic hint

Diagnostic cue. Separate what AI can produce quickly from what the analyst must still judge and verify.

Complete answers appear in Appendix G of The Defensible Decision: Practice Workbook.

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About the three-tier Practice format

Each chapter of the book closes with a three-tier Practice block adapted from Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic's course-adoption pattern in Storytelling with Data: Let's Practice!: Practice with us (one worked problem with full solution in the book), Practice on your own (open problems with complete answers in Appendix G of the Practice Workbook; this page offers short diagnostic hints), and Practice at work (an open-ended prompt to apply the chapter's move to a live artifact). This page hosts the middle tier.