Resources

This page features a curated list of articles, projects, and discussions from across the web that exemplify or explore the Seven Habits of Effective Agentic Systems.

The goal is to provide a living repository of practical examples that show these habits in action.

Articles & Discussions

This section contains links to articles, blog posts, and other discussions related to the Habits.

General Framework

• The Anatomy of a Mature Agent: A Field Guide
  • An article illustrating the seven habits through two practical scenarios: “The Shield,” a safety-optimized customer support agent, and “The Mechanic,” an autonomy-optimized internal operations agent.

Habit 1: Clearly Bounded Role

• Why Agents Need Authority, Not Vibes
  • Discusses the problem of vague responsibilities in agentic systems. It introduces “Habit 1: Clearly Bounded Role,” which means explicitly defining what an agent is responsible for and, more importantly, what it is not, making the system more trustworthy and auditable.

Habit 2: Embedded in Workflows

• Agents Are Steps, Not Owners
  • Argues against giving agents end-to-end ownership of workflows. It advocates for agents to be “Embedded in Workflows” as steps rather than owners, acting as translation layers for existing, policy-rich systems.

Habit 3: Explicit Constraints

• What an Agent Can’t Do Matters More Than What It Can
  • Addresses the tendency of LLMs to overpromise. It emphasizes that an agent’s limitations should be explicit and enforced by the system (e.g., read-only tokens), making the system more predictable and trustworthy.

Habit 4: Defers Irreversibility

• Escalation Is an Agent Feature, Not a Failure
  • Argues that agent escalation should be treated as a designed feature, not a failure. This habit, “Defers Irreversibility,” means agents should pause or escalate rather than taking high-risk, irreversible actions, thereby preserving human judgment.

Habit 5: Optimizes for System Outcomes

• Smart Agents, Broken Systems
  • Highlights the “Busy Fool” problem where agents look efficient on local metrics but create system-level friction. The habit “Optimizes for System Outcomes” urges using business KPIs to measure an agent’s true value.

Habit 6: Progress Through Structure

• Predictability is the Point
  • Discusses how mature systems prioritize predictability over autonomy. “Progress Through Structure” treats guardrails and processes as enablers, ensuring that systems can be trusted, operated, and scaled reliably.

Habit 7: Visible Accountability

• Accountability Is a Feature
  • Addresses the critical need to understand the “why” behind an agent’s actions. “Visible Accountability” ensures actions are traceable and owned, often by generating structured metadata for decisions, which turns failures into learning opportunities.

Projects & Repositories

This section will feature open source projects and code repositories that demonstrate the Habits in their design and architecture.

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Case Studies & Examples

This section will feature in-depth case studies or example implementations.

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