Autonomous but Not Alone

An agent can work for hours, process a large amount of information, and still fail because it has no effective way to reach me when the computer misbehaves or screen mirroring decides it has other plans.

So we gave Bob a phone.

I added one instruction to our evaluation workflow:

“If you run into an issue, send me a text message saying: ‘Hi Cris, this is Bob. I need your assistance.’”

Work independently, but do not fail silently. Escalate when you need help.

Now Bob can continue on his own and, when necessary, send the digital equivalent of “Hey, can you come look at this for a second?”

Autonomy depends on that boundary. The agent needs room to do the work and a reliable path back to a person when continuing alone is no longer the right decision.

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This writing reflects my personal perspectives on product management, AI, and content discovery. It does not represent the official position of my employer or any affiliated organization.