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When should I use an Agent?

When should I use an Agent?

Updated over a month ago

Coworker offers two ways to interact with AI agents: Deep Work for general-purpose tasks and custom Agents for specialized, domain-specific work.

Deep Work

Deep Work is Coworker's flexible, all-purpose AI agent that can handle a wide variety of tasks.

Key Characteristics:

  • General Purpose: Designed to handle any type of request or task

  • Flexible Tooling: Has access to all available tools and integrations

  • Universal System Prompt: Uses comprehensive instructions that work across all domains

  • Adaptive Planning: Creates execution plans based on the specific task requirements

  • Broad Knowledge: Can work across sales, engineering, operations, customer success, and other functions

Best Use Cases:

  • One-off tasks that don't fit a specific category

  • Cross-functional analysis requiring multiple domains

  • Exploratory research and investigation

  • Custom workflows that haven't been standardized

  • Tasks requiring maximum flexibility and tool access

Agents

Agents are specialized tools designed and optimized for specific business functions, roles, or recurring task types.

Key Characteristics:

  • Domain Expertise: Specialized knowledge and instructions for specific functions

  • Optimized Tooling: Pre-configured with the most relevant tools for their domain

  • Specialized System Prompts: Tailored instructions that understand domain-specific context and requirements

  • Consistent Output: Standardized approaches and formatting for predictable results

  • Role-Based Focus: Designed around specific job functions or business processes

Types of Custom Agents:

  • Sales Agents: Call analysis, pipeline reviews, deal risk assessment

  • Engineering Agents: Code research, PR analysis, technical documentation

  • Customer Success Agents: Customer history analysis, health scoring

  • Operations Agents: Process documentation, workflow optimization

  • Leadership Agents: Team performance analysis, strategic insights

Key Differences

Aspect

Deep Work

Agents

Specialization

General-purpose, handles any task

Domain-specific expertise and focus

System Prompts

Universal instructions for all scenarios

Specialized prompts for specific functions

Tool Configuration

Access to all available tools

Pre-configured with relevant tools

Output Consistency

Variable based on task requirements

Standardized format and approach

Learning Curve

Generally requires more task specification

Understands domain context automatically

Efficiency

May need more guidance and iteration

Optimized for specific use cases

Flexibility

Maximum flexibility for any request

Focused efficiency within domain

When to Use Deep Work

  • Novel Tasks: When you need something that doesn't fit existing agent categories

  • Cross-Functional Work: Tasks requiring expertise from multiple domains

  • Experimentation: Trying new approaches or exploring possibilities

  • Complex Integration: When you need access to all available tools and data sources

  • Custom Workflows: Building unique processes that haven't been standardized

When to Use Custom Agents

  • Recurring Tasks: Regular work that follows predictable patterns

  • Domain Expertise: When you need specialized knowledge in sales, engineering, etc.

  • Consistent Output: When you want standardized results and formatting

  • Efficiency: For faster execution of common business processes

  • Role-Specific Work: Tasks that align with specific job functions

Examples in Practice

Use Deep Work for:

  • "Analyze our Q3 performance across sales, engineering, and customer success"

  • "Create a comprehensive onboarding plan for our new AI initiative"

  • "Research and compare three different project management approaches"

Use Custom Sales Agent for:

  • "Analyze my sales calls from last week and identify improvement opportunities"

  • "Generate a pipeline review for the enterprise segment"

  • "Assess deal risk for opportunities closing this quarter"

Use Custom Engineering Agent for:

  • "Review recent pull requests and identify code quality issues"

  • "Generate technical documentation for the new API endpoints"

  • "Analyze our GitHub activity and team productivity metrics"

Getting Started

  • Start with Custom Agents: If your task fits a specific business function, try the relevant custom agent first

  • Fall Back to HO2: Use the generic prompt bar when custom agents don't meet your needs

  • Experiment: Try both approaches to see which works better for your specific use cases

  • Provide Context: Regardless of which you choose, clear context and requirements improve results

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