Worksheet · v1.0
The Second Door Plan Worksheet
A ninety-minute first pass through Find, Verify, Extract, Demonstrate, Test
What it is for
To take one recurring problem your experience taught you to notice and work it through the five stages of the Second Door Plan, ending with a concrete test you can run within a few weeks.
How to use it
- 1.Print the web version or open the PDF. Writing by hand is fine and often better.
- 2.Work in order. Do not skip Verify, even if you are certain.
- 3.Give Extract the most time. Aim for one page that a stranger could follow.
- 4.Stop after Test with one concrete action and a date. That is the whole output.
What it is not
- Deciding whether to leave your job. The worksheet produces a signal, not a decision.
- Evaluating your worth, your talent, or your prospects. It examines one piece of judgment, not you.
- Predicting what will be automated. It does not know, and neither does anyone else.
- Replacing advice from someone who knows your specific situation.
This worksheet is an educational reflection tool. It is not a validated career instrument and makes no promise about employment, income, or protection from automation. Numbers and durations in the prompts are practical defaults, not research findings. Read the full scope statement.
Printable web version
The Second Door Plan Worksheet
Write directly into a printout, or answer in a notebook alongside the prompts.
1. Find
Locate one recurring problem your experience taught you to see early.
Describe one thing that goes wrong in your work in a predictable way, that you tend to notice before others do.
Who pays when it is missed, and in what currency: money, time, trust, safety, reputation?
Write it in one sentence a newcomer would not think to say. If it sounds like a résumé line, try again.
2. Verify
Check that the problem is real and recurring for people other than you.
Name two or three people who do adjacent work. Ask each whether they recognize the problem. Note their exact words.
Did anyone start nodding before you finished? Write down what they said next.
If no one recognized it, revise the sentence in section 1 and try once more before moving on.
3. Extract
Write the judgment down so it can leave your head.
List the signals you check, in the order you check them.
Describe what a bad result looks like when you see one, and what you do about it.
List the exceptions: the cases where the usual rule is wrong. These are often the most valuable part.
Condense the above to one page. Could a competent stranger follow it? If not, what is missing?
4. Demonstrate
Show the judgment working on a case someone else can inspect.
Choose one real case, anonymized if needed, or one clearly labeled illustration.
Apply your one page to it. What did it catch? What would it have cost to miss?
Choose the form: a short write-up, a walkthrough, a review, or a checklist in use. Name the form and the date you will finish it.
5. Test
Find out whether this judgment has a second place to matter.
Name one audience outside your current role that might care: a different team, industry, organization type, or format.
Describe the smallest way you could put the demonstration in front of them.
Set a date. Write down what a yes signal would look like and what a no signal would look like.
After the test: which stage does the result point you back to, if any?
The Second Door Plan Worksheet v1.0. This worksheet is an educational reflection tool. It is not a validated career instrument and makes no promise about employment, income, or protection from automation. Numbers and durations in the prompts are practical defaults, not research findings.
Belongs with
The Second Door Plan
Find, Verify, Extract, Demonstrate, Test
A five-stage method for taking one recurring problem that experience taught you to notice, making the judgment behind it visible, and testing whether it has another place to matter.
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