You are using AI wrongThere are only three
Most people are using AI for the wrong kind of work. There are only three types of workflow, and once you can name which one you are in, it is obvious what to build and where AI does not belong. This is the whole thing on one page you can print.
- 01
The one axis that decides it
Flow-oriented against goal-oriented, in a sentence each. Every workflow you run is one, the other, or a deliberate mix, and naming it is the whole job
- 02
What to actually build it with
The real tooling per type: cron and bash for the first, a sandboxed agent with scoped credentials for the second, one claude -p call inside your own script for the third
- 03
A sort test you can run today
Three questions that put any task you did last week into one of the three types, so you stop guessing which tool it deserves
- 04
Printable, one page
Sized for US Letter at 300dpi. Print it, mark up your own week on it, and keep it next to you while you build
The three types, named
Deterministic
Flow-oriented
You decide all of the steps and all of the branches before anything runs. AI does not get to decide any part of that flow.
Autonomous
Goal-oriented
The agent decides the steps and everything else needed to get the result. There is no predefined or correct way of how you get there.
Agentic
Both, on purpose
Flow-oriented, but certain steps are left goal-oriented on purpose. You decide the phases, AI only thinks inside a frame you built, and the result comes back into your flow and gets checked.