How would you choose an agentic workflow pattern?

Chooses among routing, sequential, parallel, evaluator-optimizer, and bounded agent loops from the task's dependency structure.

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TL;DR

I use routing when one classifier can select a known specialist, sequential steps when later work depends on earlier output, and parallel work when independent subproblems can be combined safely. An evaluator-optimizer loop fits an output that can be checked and improved with clear stopping rules. A free agent loop is reserved for tasks where the next step genuinely depends on intermediate evidence.

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Practice focus

Workflow decomposition, parallelism, feedback loops, and proportional orchestration.

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Core answer
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Overview
The workflow shape should follow task dependencies, not a fashionable orchestration diagram.
I use routing when one classifier can select a known specialist, sequential steps when later work depends on earlier output, and parallel work when independent subproblems can be combined safely. An evaluator-optimizer loop fits an output that can be checked and improved with clear stopping rules. A free agent loop is reserved for tasks where the next step genuinely depends on intermediate evidence.
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Stronger answer
Optional upgrade with examples, trade-offs, and sharper phrasing.
Each added model call must improve measured outcomes enough to justify latency, cost, and another failure boundary. Parallel branches need bounded fan-out and deterministic aggregation; sequential workflows need durable state if they can outlive a request. Evaluator loops require an independent useful criterion rather than one model endlessly rewriting another model's prose. I keep deterministic operations deterministic.

Review signals

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Common mistakesCandidateCommon mistakesMistakes that weaken the answer or signal shallow understanding.Open details

Details

Using multi-agent debate without evidence it improves the task.
Parallelizing dependent actions.
Creating an unbounded evaluator loop.

How would you choose an agentic workflow pattern?

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