Design the workflow before you design the agent.
Agentic systems need a purpose, context, tools, and boundaries. Workflow design establishes those requirements before a model is assigned a task.
Map the ordinary and the exceptional.
Describe the trigger, inputs, tasks, dependencies, and desired result. Pay particular attention to incomplete data, ambiguous requests, competing priorities, and exceptions. Those moments often determine whether automation remains useful.
Assign work deliberately.
Use explicit rules and conventional software where the task is deterministic. Apply a model where language, synthesis, or interpretation adds value. Keep consequential commitments with the people who have authority to make them.
Test the boundaries.
Evaluate representative cases, difficult exceptions, missing context, and incorrect inputs. Define when the system should stop or ask for help. A staged rollout makes it possible to learn without assigning more authority than the evidence supports.
A question for your team.
Which part of the workflow needs intelligence, and which part needs a clearer process?
Sheertelligence perspectives · September 2026