Career Option Prototyping
Obtain the decision deadline, income floor, existing commitments and affordable time/money cap. Ask only for information relevant to the decision; aggregate constraints often suffice. Preserve current income unless a separate transition decision authorises otherwise.
Sketch continuation, an adjacent option and an exploratory option with genuinely different work. Treat each as a hypothesis, not a recommended identity or prediction. State the daily tasks, transferable evidence and weakest assumption for each.
Match the prototype to that assumption. A practitioner conversation tests understanding; a representative work sample tests limited competence; an explicitly approved paid pilot tests demand within its terms. These are not interchangeable. Do not fabricate conversations or imply that testimonials establish paid demand.
Choose the cheapest reversible next test under the actual cap. A learning course is an investment to justify, not the default answer. Give a deliverable, source of feedback, review point and counterevidence. Distinguish poor task performance, lack of market response and disinterest before deciding which part to revise.
Set advance, revise and stop branches that use the evidence the test can actually produce. Success authorises consideration of a next bounded step, not resignation or a larger spend. Mixed evidence does not justify an unlimited programme. Draft outreach and transactions remain drafts until separately approved.
Provenance
Original distillation; source restrictions retained. No action authority is granted by these instructions.
