- 01
Resolve the name before evaluating the tool
Start with the exact spelling, the destination domain, the product owner, and the task the searcher wants to complete. A memorable name can refer to a site, account, campaign, character, or unrelated phrase. Record the first-party page, access date, region, and whether the page describes a product at all. Do not turn a search result, domain label, social mention, or generated snippet into proof of a current capability. If the identity remains unclear, the correct output is a research question rather than a confident tool recommendation. For the working record, preserve the decision history, and ask the accessibility reviewer to record visible continuity before the evidence refresh.
- 02
Reconstruct the smallest observable workflow
Once the referent is known, describe the workflow in testable steps: input asset or brief, controls exposed to the user, processing or generation step, review surface, export, and ownership of the result. Use a non-sensitive example and preserve the original. Note whether the service requires an account, limits formats, adds a watermark, changes retention, or delegates work to another provider. Separate what the interface visibly supports from what marketing language implies, and record failures as carefully as successful behavior. For the working record, preserve the reference set, and ask the continuity editor to record input provenance before the rights check.
- 03
Check provenance, rights, and operational risk
Before a named tool enters production, verify the source of its models, media, templates, and documentation. Confirm that the team is authorized to upload the example, that personal likenesses have consent, and that the output can be stored and delivered to the intended destination. Review privacy, deletion, commercial-use, attribution, and export language from current first-party sources. A tool can be useful for exploration while still being unsuitable for confidential assets or a deadline-critical handoff. While evidence is current, preserve the test fixture, and ask the policy reviewer to record failure conditions before the production checkpoint.
- 04
Compare alternatives by the job, not by the name
If “mybananaman” is a request for a category rather than a specific product, translate it into a job statement: what must change, for whom, with which constraints and acceptance test? Compare candidates on controllability, input compatibility, repeatability, review ownership, provenance, export behavior, and total rework. Keep the same brief and example across candidates. Do not award a winner because one page has stronger SEO copy, a lower headline price, or a more prominent call to action. For this decision, preserve the reference set, and ask the source custodian to record revision intent before the scope confirmation.
- 05
Write a defensible decision record
A useful research note records the normalized query, resolved identity, primary URLs, access date, account and region context, observed steps, evidence gaps, and the condition that would change the decision. Mark unverified statements as unverified. If no first-party source confirms the identity or behavior, keep the route informational and avoid promises about availability, performance, price, speed, or entitlement. This makes the page useful even when the original term is misspelled, newly launched, or unrelated to a creative tool. For the working record, preserve the reference set, and ask the creative lead to record identity consent before the final sign-off.
- 06
Choose a reversible next step
The safest next action is usually a bounded lookup or a small authorized test, not a full migration. Save the source asset, test brief, output, and notes separately; name a reviewer; and define a stop condition for privacy, rights, quality, or access failures. Recheck the source when the product, policy, model, or domain changes. The goal is not to force an answer to an ambiguous query, but to turn uncertainty into a decision that another person can audit. For the working record, preserve the rights memo, and ask the creative lead to record temporal order before the scope confirmation.