Operations / Field guide
AI agent or fixed workflow? Trace the next decision
Choose the design by asking who can specify the next step. The answer can change halfway through the same transaction.
2XD Studio · · 2 min read
Write the route without naming a tool
Take a new supplier request. Checking that a tax ID is present, looking up a vendor ID, and sending a task to purchasing follow known rules. Adding a model to those steps introduces a new way to fail without removing work. Keep them deterministic and record which rule made each decision.
Isolate the part that requires interpretation
Now consider a supplier note saying the second shipment replaces the first one except for two items. Extracting the proposed changes requires interpreting language. A model can prepare a structured draft. An agent becomes useful if it must decide which records to inspect next, such as a shipment history or a contract amendment. Give it a bounded list of tools and a clear stopping point.
Compare both designs on the same cases
Use one ordinary request, one correction, one missing record, and one conflicting instruction. For each design, note what it read, what it proposed, and what went wrong. If a short decision table handles every case cleanly, ship the table. If investigators repeatedly need different lookups, pilot the agent with read-only access first.
Draw a line around the agent
For the supplier note, let the agent return a proposed change set with item identifiers and source passages. Give the fixed workflow authority to reject unknown IDs and negative quantities. The buyer can then review a small, legible diff. If a second lookup is rarely needed, you may discover that even this narrow agent is more elaborate than the job requires.
Reader questions
Can one project use both approaches?
Yes. A fixed workflow can validate inputs and commit approved changes while an agent investigates the ambiguous middle step.
What is a useful stopping condition?
An unresolved conflict between two authoritative records is a good one. Return the conflict and the source links to the process owner.