Workflows encode domain knowledge better than agents

A deterministic, staged workflow that encodes domain knowledge is easier to debug, more consistent, and maps to experts’ mental models. Translate that domain knowledge directly rather than letting an agent rediscover it. Add agentic behavior only when a workflow hits limitations it cannot solve.

Domain experts already follow workflows to solve problems. A reliability engineer triages alerts in a predictable sequence; a security analyst investigates incidents through established steps. Encoding those steps as a deterministic pipeline produces consistent, debuggable behavior that maps to the expert’s mental model. Agents add value when the workflow hits ambiguity that requires judgment, but that judgment should be layered on top of structure (see: structure in structure out for LLM calls), not substituted for it.