Driving the Flying Train

A guide for office workers on mastering AI workflows

Are you a “Human in the Loop”? Learn to take control of the loop instead, driving your AI system from the front seat, where you belong.

Alex Finkel · with Brinley Hosking

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We need to move from “human in the loop” to “human drives the loop.” The difference matters: one makes you an approver, the other keeps you in charge.

This is a collection of ideas, models and practical techniques for getting more out of AI — built from real experience, not theory. It’s written for people in offices and teams, not software engineers. Each chapter stands alone; read what’s useful, skip what isn’t.

Chapters

1. Escaping the Bad Zone · Drafted

Before you can drive the loop, you need to know what the machine does well and where it falls apart.

2. The Good Zone · Planned

Learn to use the Three-Chat Model to rapidly research best practices for any AI task and execute them with high fidelity.

3. Trading off Time for Fidelity · Draft

A 2-minute prompt gets you a 2-minute answer. Spending 20 minutes on process gets you something you can trust.

4. Handling Big Tasks · Planned

AI forgets. Understanding why — and working with it instead of against it — is the key to tackling anything longer than a page.

5. Advanced Workflow Management · Planned

When you stop typing prompts and start designing systems.

6. Evals · Planned

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Evals turn “I think this works” into “I know this works.”

7. Learning Process · Planned

The AI gets better at your work over time — if you build the feedback loop.

8. Learning Knowledge · Planned

Teaching the AI what you know, and letting it find what you don’t.