Define the decision
Identify the useful work that must continue: viewing accepted specifications, checking quantities, recording a return, exporting a brief and contacting the responsible person. Separate deterministic calculations and ordinary forms from optional model-generated help. The fallback should preserve the task’s meaning rather than leaving the user with an unexplained failure.
Build a usable record
Design a manual route using clear field prompts, saved source references and portable records. Explain which service is unavailable and which actions still work. Retain the last accepted evidence and result version. Do not replace a missing source or factor with a guessed answer simply to keep a workflow moving.
Check the evidence boundary
Consider runtime dependencies as well as screen design. A published release needs its required assets and services available from commissioned production hosting, with restoration tested independently of a development machine. An unavailable drafting assistant should not prevent a user from reading an accepted record. A queued external action must remain pending until actual execution is confirmed.
Worked example — illustrative
In a fictional scenario, a source-grounded assistant is temporarily unavailable while a team prepares a material comparison. The team completes the structured evidence fields and uses exact entered quantities. An unresolved factor stays unknown. Later assistant review can suggest questions, but it cannot retroactively convert the draft into an approved decision.
Put the method into practice
Use the restoration checklist to test the minimum useful journey without the optional service. Record which dependencies failed, what remained available and how users recovered their records. Leaf’s guest tools demonstrate deterministic planning; authenticated continuity and queued operations need the delivered engine and production verification.
- Identify minimum useful journeys.
- Offer structured manual input.
- Preserve unknowns and accepted versions.
- Test independent runtime dependencies.