4. Preparation and division of work

The required preparation follows the selected operation. A finite path or set construction may need elementary sets and functions. Deriving a recording law uses probability; varying a curve uses calculus. A reader interpreting the result may need less technical preparation than the contributor constructing its proof, but must still understand the conditions and the consequence used next.

When dividing the work, state the contribution needed: a physical premise, a mathematical construction, an obtaining procedure, an interpretation or a changed working arrangement. Ask the contributor to return its inputs, conditions, useful result and consequential limits. That makes the division inspectable whether one person, several specialists or assisting AI agents provide the contributions.

For example, a cart investigation can divide observation and physical-account work, construction of a state model, calculation, and a controller change. A discrepancy can return to any of them. There is no requirement for four people or for one permanent role per DPF.

You may ask an assistant: “Use the relevant patterns, but explain the result in the language of my work. State any mathematical preparation I need, and explain unfamiliar terms where they affect the next step.” An explanation should let its reader recover the required structure and use it. FPF C.2.8 and Explanation Design address that question; a technically precise sentence can still leave the needed operation unexplained.

If a needed operation is unfamiliar, first decide whether you must learn it or can obtain its contribution from an available source, tool, specialist or AI. HCD.1 identifies the human contribution required by later work; HCD.2 and HCD.3 compare development and support from the preparation already available. A model’s interpreter may need to understand its assumptions and limits while another contributor builds it. That division changes what the interpreter needs to learn.

For learning, choose a task that calls for the missing operation and the help available in the intended work. HCD.9 guides the attempt, feedback, correction and retry; HCD.10 varies practice. HCD.12 distinguishes evidence of transfer from evidence of learning a new method with a source. A correct answer supplied by a helper and the learner’s own interpretation are separate contributions. Use the observed attempt to choose the next practice or support; claims about faster learning or broad transfer need the comparisons those claims entail. HCD.15 revisits the arrangement when the work or support changes. Reading all five DPFs is not a prerequisite for a useful first contribution.