Agents that argue, then stop

Agent demos love a long conversation. Operators do not. The desks we keep are dull on purpose: a fixed set of roles, a schema for disagreement, a chair that must file a recommendation and a dissent, and a stop after one artefact. Quorum, our practice desk, is that shape pointed at a morning market read. It does not place trades. It does not offer advice. It files a memo.

The schema is the product. If an agent can wander, it will, and you will not be able to evaluate it. We score the artefact. Did it cite, did it answer the decision, did it invent a number. Not the charm of the middle messages.

Tools should be few. Search, a calculator, a retrieval index, a clock. Every extra tool is another way to leave the building or to loop. Relay exists for the last metre: the memo or the exception arrives in a chat the operator already has, with quiet hours, and a link back to the system of record.

If you cannot name the decision the desk serves, do not build a desk. Build a search box. Search boxes that cite are still rare, and they are usually the better first system.