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Workflow Fundamentals

A workflow is a graph of steps. Some steps are code, some are an LLM call, some are a full agent loop. The first design decision is always: how much of this graph should the model control?

flowchart LR J["Junior: trace one step"] --> M["Middle: pick a pattern"] M --> S["Senior: draw the determinism boundary"] S --> P["Professional: govern the autonomy budget"]

Levels

Level Guide You are done when
Junior Trace one step, then a chain You can tell a single LLM call apart from an agent loop, and write down a step's input/output contract.
Middle Pick the workflow pattern You can choose among the 5 canonical patterns and justify it against latency, cost, and predictability.
Senior Draw the determinism boundary You can say exactly which parts of a workflow the model decides and which parts code decides, and why.
Professional Govern the autonomy budget You can set org-wide rules for how much autonomy a new workflow is allowed to start with.

Practice rule

Before adding a branch, a loop, or a sub-agent to a workflow, write down: "the model decides X here because code cannot." If you can't finish that sentence, that piece belongs in code, not in the model's hands.