Agents

An agent is standing rather than conversational. It is not created when you open a chat and discarded when you close it; it exists in the workspace, holds a brief, accrues a run history, and is still there on Monday. Everything you configure about one falls into five parts.

Name

What it is called on boards, in traces, in handoffs and in the daily brief. Names matter more than they look like they should: a board where three items are owned by “Assistant” is unreadable.

Brief

What the agent is for, in sentences. The single highest-leverage field in the product and the one most people under-write.

Model

Which model runs it. Chosen per agent, not per workspace, because a supplier-chasing agent and a returns agent do not need the same capability.

Tools

Which connected systems it may touch, and whether it may write to them or only read.

Ceiling

The spending limit it works inside, and which of its actions go to a person’s queue rather than out directly.

Writing a brief that works

The best test for a brief is whether a new starter could follow it without asking a follow-up question. Briefs that fail in practice are almost always too short and too abstract — “handle customer emails” contains no decision anybody could make. Briefs that work name the job, the boundary, and what to do when unsure.

Chase suppliers who are late against the delivery date on the
purchase order.

Chase once at three days late and once more at seven. Use the
supplier's own thread if one exists rather than starting a new one.

If a supplier gives a new date, put it on the item and stop chasing.
If a supplier disputes the order contents, hand off to a person and
do not negotiate.

Never agree to a price change. Never confirm a substitution.

The default three