Adopting Agents? Start With the Process, Not the Tech

Over the past six months I've talked with many companies wanting to adopt agents. One pattern keeps repeating: everyone asks "which model, which framework" first, and almost never asks "which step should it do for me."

The order is backwards

An agent's value isn't how smart it is — it's whether it can reliably take over a clear, repetitive, rule-based step. So the right order is:

1. Map the business process and find the most time-consuming, repetitive step.
2. Judge whether that step is rule-clear and decomposable.
3. Then pick the tech — model and framework come last, not first.

A reusable test

In one line: if you could write a clear instruction manual for a new hire to do it, an agent can probably do it too. If it relies heavily on in-the-moment judgment and tacit experience, it's not yet a good place to start.

This is what I stress in enterprise training: process first, technology second. Get the order right and success rates climb.