AI Automation
How to Choose the First Workflow for an AI Agent
The best first workflow for an AI agent is frequent, bounded, measurable, and easy for a person to review. Start with work that already has an owner and a recognizable good result. Avoid workflows where one wrong action creates irreversible financial, legal, or customer harm.
Start with the work, not the model
List recurring tasks that move information or prepare a decision. Record frequency, handling time, tools involved, error cost, and the person who owns the result. A workflow that happens daily and follows visible rules is usually a better starting point than a rare, impressive task.
Use a simple scoring table
| Factor | Good first workflow | Risky first workflow |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Daily or weekly | Rare |
| Rules | Mostly visible | Mostly intuition |
| Review | Quick and clear | Expert-only |
| Failure | Reversible | Irreversible |
| Data | Accessible and permitted | Sensitive or unclear |
Define the boundary
Write down what the agent may read, draft, recommend, and execute. Begin with draft mode. Let a person approve actions until the evaluation set shows dependable performance.
How should quality be measured?
Create examples from real work. Score whether the agent selected the right information, followed the rules, and produced an acceptable result. Track latency and cost too; a correct system that is too slow or expensive is not ready.
What should happen when the agent is uncertain?
It should stop, explain what is missing, and route the case to a person. A safe refusal is part of system quality.