Acme Digital Agency

Every agent writes to a shared state file. No agent reads data sources directly.

Why: Race conditions from direct access.

Failure mode: Two agents get different results from same source.

Scope: Organization-wide

Only one agent has authority to send external communications.

Why: Multiple senders create duplicate client emails.

Failure mode: Client receives contradictory information.

Scope: Organization-wide

Analytics agent reports patterns but never recommends actions.

Why: Recommendations without client context were ignored.

Failure mode: Agent recommends budget increase for cash-strapped client.

Scope: Organization-wide

Retention agent overrides sales agent when client is at risk.

Why: Expansion to at-risk client accelerates churn.

Failure mode: Upsell to declining client. Client cancels.

Scope: Organization-wide

All agent output logged to audit trail before action.

Why: Without logs, debugging takes hours.

Failure mode: Error with no trace. Team guesses.

Scope: Organization-wide

Each agent has written role statement and authorized actions.

Why: Without boundaries, agents overlap.

Failure mode: Two agents update same project status.

Scope: Organization-wide

No agent modifies another agents shared state file.

Why: Single-writer prevents data races.

Failure mode: Two agents write to same file. One overwrites other.

Scope: Organization-wide

Agents coordinate through shared state files, not direct messaging.

Why: Direct messaging creates hidden dependencies.

Failure mode: Unlogged message causes invisible failure.

Scope: Organization-wide

Cross-agent workflows use pub-sub through shared state.

Why: Pub-sub decouples agents.

Failure mode: Tightly coupled agents cascade failures.

Scope: Organization-wide

Unresolvable errors: log and stop. No automatic retry.

Why: Retries on unresolvable errors create noise.

Failure mode: Agent retries 100 times, consumes rate limits.

Scope: Organization-wide

Gave analytics agent write access to campaigns. It optimized for wrong metrics.

Why: Lacked client context.

Failure mode: Decreased spend on strategic brand campaign.

Scope: Organization-wide

Single shared state file became bottleneck and corruption source.

Why: Concurrent writes caused data races.

Failure mode: Two agents update simultaneously. One update lost.

Scope: Organization-wide

All external communications require human approval.

Why: AI comms can be wrong.

Failure mode: Email with incorrect numbers. Client loses trust.

Scope: Organization-wide

Pricing and financial commitments require human decision.

Why: Legal and relationship implications.

Failure mode: Agent applies discount violating margin floors.

Scope: Organization-wide