Aglet

Triage an Oversized Agent Task Scope

An oversized task hides several decisions behind one request and makes a complete result hard to define. Triage should inventory the requested outcomes, map their evidence and dependencies, and choose one primary decision. Preserve useful secondary questions as a sequenced queue.

Establish what is happening

  1. Inventory requested outcomes

    List every question, system, source, change, audience, and deliverable implied by the request. Mark whether each item is a decision, investigation, implementation, verification, or follow-up. Highlight dependencies and conflicting success criteria before attempting to combine them.

  2. Find the decision spine

    Choose the smallest decision that unlocks the next meaningful action and state its evidence standard. Group related questions beneath it, then separate independent work, optional context, and future improvements. Record what will remain unanswered in the first slice.

  3. Set slice boundaries

    Define in-scope sources, time window, output shape, owner, dependency handoffs, and stop rule for the first slice. Add a condition for splitting again when evidence or review effort exceeds the boundary. Preserve the full request and resulting queue for review.

What to carry forward

Return a scope brief with primary decision, first evidence slice, exclusions, dependencies, owner, deliverable, and stopping condition. Triage is complete when the first slice can finish without resolving every related question. Keep expansion queued until new evidence or a decision need justifies it.

Keep the decision with the work.

Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.

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