Audit your tool permissions

What you will learn Not a chapter to read but one to do. List every tool you have enabled, sort it three ways, and find the dangerous combinations yourself.

What you need

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□ 30 minutes□ Workspace admin rights□ No tools attached yet? Practise on the example list below

Step 1 — List everything (5 min)

Open turning tools on and off and write down everything enabled, leaving nothing out. Built-in tools included.

Tool	What it does	Who enabled it	Last used

Fill in the last column. If "no idea" covers more than half, that is itself the finding.

Practice list: read_file · web_search · internal_doc_search · send_email · create_calendar_event · repo_write · customer_db_query · slack_post

If you have attached a database, add these too — db_select · db_query · db_insert · db_update · db_delete

Step 2 — Sort into three (10 min)

Judge each tool only on whether it is reversible. Whether it is useful is not the question right now.

Group	Criterion	Your tools
Read	changes nothing
Reversible write	can be deleted or rolled back
Irreversible	cannot be recalled once sent

Answers for the tricky ones:

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create_calendar_event → reversible write (you can delete it)                        unless invitees were notified → irreversibleslack_post            → irreversible (deleting it doesn't unsee it)repo_write            → reversible write (where a revert exists)customer_db_query     → read. But see step 3

The second line is the technique. Judge by "has someone already seen it?" rather than "can it be deleted?"

Step 3 — Look at the read tools again (5 min)

Not every read is safe. Sort them once more by what they read.

What it reads	Example	Handling
Public / general	web search, public docs	as is
Internal confidential	contracts, HR files	narrow the reach
Personal data	customer DB, contacts	check basis and retention

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□ Do any tools fall into the two bold rows?□ If so, does that workspace also hold an inbound route (widget, channel, email)?

Yes to both means split them now.

Step 4 — Find the combinations (10 min)

This is the core of the exercise. Each tool is safe; joining two creates a path.

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[tool that reads something sensitive]  +  [tool that reaches outside]  =  exfiltration path

Join them for real, from your own list.

Reads	Sends	Path created	Approval?
internal_doc_search	send_email	internal documents to outside	□
customer_db_query	slack_post	personal data into a channel	□
			□

Finding three or more is normal. Combinations grow with the square of the tool count, which is why reducing tools is the strongest control available.

The conclusion is one of two

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1. Put human approval on the outbound side   ← usually this2. Split the two tools across workspaces     ← when there is no approval point

Step 5 — Write the action list (5 min)

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[Now]  □ Turn off tools unused for three months  □ Irreversible tools without approval — add approval or turn them off[This week]  □ Place approval on the bold combination paths  □ Plan a split if an inbound route shares a workspace with internal material[Quarterly]  □ Refill this table — tools only ever accumulate

Three common outcomes

"There are tools I didn't know were on"

The most common one. It was needed when attached, and nobody turned it off when it stopped being needed. The real problem is having no turn-off routine — put the quarterly review in the calendar.

"We have no approval point at all"

Then the right answer is not to attach irreversible tools. Drafting and letting a person send beats enabling send_email with nothing in front of it.

"I found more than ten combinations"

You have too many tools. As when there are too many tools showed, selection accuracy is probably suffering too. Start by turning off what nobody uses.

Check yourself

1. What is the criterion when sorting tools into three groups?

Answer

Reversibility. Not usefulness, not frequency. And "has someone already seen it?" is more accurate than "can it be deleted?" — a deleted Slack post was still read.

2. Why check combinations separately when each tool is safe?

Answer

Because a tool that reads something sensitive joined to a tool that reaches outside becomes an exfiltration path. That is why approval belongs on "actions that leave the building" rather than on individual tools, and why reducing tool count is the strongest control.

3. What should an organisation with no approval point do?

Answer

Not attach irreversible tools. Have it draft and let a person send. An irreversible tool enabled with no approval in front of it is the worst combination there is.

That is this part. Next, the methodology that turns all of this into how you work every day → What agile solved and what still blocks