The journal
Before You Build an AI Agent, Draw the Handoff
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The most revealing automation work often starts by making a business process visible, including its exceptions and human decisions.
Follow one real case from start to finish
Choose a recurring workflow such as a new inquiry, service request, or internal document review. Trace one case through the tools and people involved, noting where information is copied, decisions are made, and waiting begins.
Do not draw only the ideal route. Include missing details, duplicate records, urgent requests, and situations that require expertise. Those exceptions reveal whether the process is stable enough to automate or first needs clearer ownership.
Decide which judgment remains human
Automation can move information and prepare a next step, but a business should decide where a person must review, approve, or take over. A workflow involving commitments, sensitive context, or unusual customer needs deserves explicit boundaries.
Write the boundary in operational terms: what input is allowed, which conditions trigger escalation, and what a human sees before approving. “Human in the loop” is not a safeguard unless the person has context, authority, and time to act.
Build against a measurable baseline
Before deployment, record the current response time, manual steps, failure modes, or completion rate that actually matters. Then choose a narrow initial workflow and test realistic cases, including missing data and system outages.
An AI Automation Agency engagement should leave the business with a maintainable process, not merely a compelling demo. Measure whether the handoff improved, inspect exceptions, and expand only when the next use case has its own clear purpose.