Small teams do not need agent magic. They need repeatable loops that do not make the work harder to trust.
The basic loop
- Capture the task.
- Add context and constraints.
- Let the agent draft.
- Check the draft against a short rubric.
- Either ship or revise.
The agent is a contributor, not a replacement for judgment.
What I keep visible
- Prompt
- Tools
- Output
- Review notes
- Final handoff
What I try to avoid
- Hidden state
- Unclear ownership
- Long chains of automatic steps with no checkpoint
- Workflows that only one person can understand
A simple rule
If the workflow cannot be explained in one screen, it is probably too much for a small team.
That is usually where I start trimming.