The lesson
A full crew of machines
It is the Saturday lunch crowd. There are 15 people in the queue, and my stall has modernised and runs a full crew of machines. At the wok, an agent watches colour and flame. At the stock pot, an agent tastes and seasons. At the stall front, an agent takes orders and gives change. When every ticket says who does what next, the queue moves like a dance. But at 1:30, a ticket falls between 2 agents. Nobody notices it. A customer waits 20 minutes. And I learn the oldest rule in teamwork.
Specialists passing the plate
The industry word is multi-agent system: several specialists, each with 1 job, passing the work along. The passing is the hard part. More hands do not make a faster kitchen. Clearer handoffs do. A strong team with vague tickets will still produce duplicate plates and lost orders. Then comes the second question. Which decisions may the agent make alone, and which go to me? The answer is a card above my wok. When the noodle bin runs low, reorder. The agent decides alone. When somebody wants to change the menu, that comes to me. Engineers call the card guardrails, and I am the human in the loop.
Where crews already work
You meet this split everywhere AI works. A customer-service crew can check your account and issue the refund, while a human reviews anything above 500 dollars. A hospital system books scans and reshuffles clinic slots, but a doctor signs every diagnosis. The machines carry the routine. A human carries the stakes.
Autopilot, or call me?
3 decisions came up this week, and each one gets the same question. Let the agent decide, or me?
First, the noodle bin is nearly empty, and the agent wants to reorder the usual amount from the usual supplier. Let the agent decide, or call me? I give you three seconds.
Pause here for three seconds.
Show the answer
… Let the agent decide. It is small and reversible, and 1 phone call undoes it.
Second, the month is slow, and the agent proposes dropping every price by 1 dollar. Let the agent decide, or me? I give you three seconds.
Pause here for three seconds.
Show the answer
… Me. Prices are public, and a dollar off is hard to bring back.
Third, the agent proposes a new dish for tomorrow’s board: salted egg Hokkien Mee. Let the agent decide, or me? I give you three seconds.
Pause here for three seconds.
Show the answer
… Me. The menu is the face of the stall, and it changes only when I say so.