AI Summary: This blog provides a contrarian but vital perspective on the 2026 agentic boom. It argues that many companies are over-investing in 'autonomous' agents for tasks that could be handled more cheaply by simple, deterministic code.
For every successful agent deployment, there are dozens that cost 3x more than the workflows they replaced. This post provides a necessary reality check on 'maximal autonomy' vs. 'optimal autonomy.' We explore why deterministic workflows often beat autonomous agents on cost and latency and provide a 'metric bundle' to measure before you deploy.
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