Decision 041
AI agents versus deterministic automation
Context
Teams are tempted to agent-wrap workflows that should be scripts, checks or rules.
Decision
Default to deterministic automation. Introduce agents only where ambiguity, synthesis or multi-source judgement creates leverage — with verification around outputs.
Trade-offs
Agents are flexible but non-deterministic. Scripts are reliable but brittle in open-ended situations.
When I would reconsider
If an agentic workflow converges to the same steps every time, replace it with deterministic automation.