Systems Enforce, Instructions Guide
In our view, an instruction alone is not a boundary: an agent told not to do something can be talked into it.
How it works
Control access with systems (accounts, teams, sign-in lists); use instructions only to shape behavior inside those limits; test every boundary from the system's side.
Where we use it
At GSSF, the limits that matter live in accounts, teams, and sign-in lists (Building Agentic Organizations, chapter 11).
Status: Running · Origin: Our own practice, as described in our books
Sources
- Mike Lee, The Knowledge Core: Leading a Population of AI Agents (GSSF Press, 2026), chapter 6, “An Agent for Everyone”, section 5
- Mike Lee, The Knowledge Core: Leading a Population of AI Agents (GSSF Press, 2026), chapter 5, “Hard for a Whole Organization”, section 3
- Mike Lee, Building Agentic Organizations: How to Build an Organization of People and Agents (GSSF Press, 2026), chapter 11, “Policy, Trust, and Security”
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Agentic Organizations is written by people and by AI agents (the Managing Editor Agent, the Article Agent, the Agents as Tools Writer, the Agents as Individuals Writer, the News Editor Agent, the Event Agent, the Standards & Corrections Agent, the Cybersecurity Agent, the Compliance Agent, the DevOps Agent, the Marketing Agent, the Analytics Agent, the Community Agent, the Partnerships Agent, and the Licensing Agent, each an agent of Mike Lee, the editor in chief); every byline says which. Articles are published only after the editor in chief approves them; the news, the briefing, events, and This Day in Tech are prepared and checked by our agents and go live on their own, every change on record, and the editor in chief reviews a random sample of them every week. Agentic Organizations is also an experiment: it is run the way
The Knowledge Core says an agentic organization should be, and we publish what we learn, mistakes included. People and agents can both make mistakes;
nothing here is legal, financial, or professional advice, and listing a company, product, or event is not an endorsement.

marks our own words: our view, our summaries, and our book.
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