Ask-Plan-Audit-Build-Verify Workflow
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A structured five-phase workflow for directing AI agents through complex, long-running ("messy forever") work, designed to maintain human oversight and quality control across the full lifecycle of an agentic task.
Overview
The workflow is described in the talk To Give an Agent a Workspace: Laying a Foundation for Messy Forever Work as a disciplined sequence that governs how an agent takes on, structures, executes, and delivers work. 15:26
Component Parts
Several distinct artifacts and gates are identified as constituent elements of this workflow:
- Launch Contract ("the autonomous contract or the agent contract"): Establishes the terms under which the agent operates autonomously. 26:55
- WWK (What We Know): A structured document capturing accumulated knowledge about the task before planning begins. 27:55
- Spec: A document larger and more detailed than a plan, built by the agent to fully specify the work. 28:08
- Plan of Plans: A higher-order planning artifact that organizes execution across sub-tasks or phases. 28:13
- Discussion Gate: A checkpoint mechanism that enforces human review before proceeding. 29:02
- Ship Flow: The terminal phase governing how completed work is delivered. 29:20
Design Intent
The workflow is oriented toward "messy forever work" — tasks that are open-ended, iterative, or persistent rather than discrete and bounded. The sequencing of ask → plan → audit → build → verify reflects an emphasis on front-loading clarification and planning (the Ask and Plan phases), inserting human or automated audit before execution begins, and requiring explicit verification before shipping — a structure that counteracts the tendency of autonomous agents to proceed without sufficient grounding.
Points of Disagreement
No dissenting or alternative perspectives on this workflow are present in the available material.