find-the-loop

Before iterating on a speedup or quality problem, build the feedback loop first and write it down as a Loop Card that names the outcome, the instrument the agent runs itself, the noise floor, the keep bar and the stop rule. Use on /lever loop, when asked to speed up, optimize, hill-climb or "make X better" against something measurable, and when a loop smell shows up mid-task: the user has pasted two or more screenshots or numbers, "still broken" has come up twice, the agent said "please try it" without running it, someone claims a win from one run, or the human is acting as the instrument. Not for one-shot fixes that existing tests already prove.