AI Orchestration
Are you using agents to write the code — or to run the business? Same models, different job. Confuse the two and both fail.
Agents split cleanly into two orchestration tracks. One builds the factory. The other runs it. Pick the track before picking the tool.
Two Tracks
| Track | Job | Who directs | Feedback loop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agentic Coding | Write, refactor, and test software | Engineer | Compile, test, deploy |
| Agentic Workflows | Run business operations — sales, ops, research | Operator / agent | Outcome, revenue, KPI |
Coding agents live inside the IDE and the repo. Workflow agents live inside the business — email, CRM, docs, calendars, ledgers. The first ships code. The second ships value.
Why Split
A coding agent optimizes for a unit test. A workflow agent optimizes for a customer outcome. The gauges are different, the tools are different, the quality bar is different. A single "AI strategy" that ignores the split ends up with great code nobody uses and busy ops nobody measures.
Key Concepts
| Concept | Definition |
|---|---|
| Direction | Human or agent objective the agent must follow |
| Tool access | The agent's hands — APIs, CLIs, MCP servers, files |
| Context window | What the agent sees when it reasons |
| Autonomy level | How far it runs without human confirmation |
| Feedback loop | How success is measured and fed back in |
| Handoff | Where one agent's output becomes another's input |
Where Each Lives
- Agentic Coding — chain prompts, build minimal frameworks, ship software
- Agentic Workflows — run business operations with agent crews and work charts
- Agentic Frameworks — tool selection for both tracks
- Agents vs Skills — when to reach for which primitive
- Prompts — the shared foundation under both tracks
Context
- AI Models — the engines both tracks run on
- Model Context Protocol — standardized tool access
- Work Charts — who does what, human vs agent
- BOaaS — business operations as a service
Questions
Which of your current AI efforts is building the factory, and which is running it — and are you confusing the two?
- When does a coding agent's success metric conflict with a workflow agent's success metric?
- What breaks first when the same person owns both tracks without separating the loops?
- Where does a coding agent need to hand off to a workflow agent — and who designs that seam?
- If a workflow agent produces bad outcomes, is the fix a better prompt or a better process?