Start with workflows, not agents
Prefer the simplest thing that works — a single call, then a fixed workflow of composable steps, and only a fully autonomous agent when flexibility genuinely demands it.
WHY IT HOLDS
Agentic systems trade latency and cost for flexibility. Most tasks are well-defined enough that predictable code paths outperform, and simplicity keeps the system inspectable when it breaks.
WHAT IT PREVENTS
Over-engineered agent stacks that are expensive, slow, and impossible to debug.
ADOPTED BY
2 organisationsAnthropic, HumanLayer
WHERE PEOPLE DISAGREE
Frameworks capture community best practice and save real time; Anthropic's anti-framework position is contested.
CAVEATS ON THE EVIDENCE
SOURCES
RING HISTORY
RELATED
DOES THE PRACTICE WORK FOR YOU?
Field reports are not open yet. When they are, you will be able to sign in with GitHub and record whether this practice held on your stack — one report per person, so the counts mean something. Nothing is collected here in the meantime.