The Core Mental Model

The Core Mental Model

You can understand almost any workflow with four ideas:

1. Steps — the individual actions.
2. Constants and variables — what stays the same vs. what changes each time.
3. Composability — combining steps so they flow together.
4. Named workflows — packaging the whole thing so you can reuse it.

Steps: the smallest repeatable actions

A step is one basic action you do every time.

Examples:

• Pull unread emails from the last 24 hours.
• Extract action items from meeting notes.
• Summarize a long document into five bullets.
• Flag anything related to a specific client.
• Reformat notes into a weekly update template.

A good step is: small, clear, repeatable, and easy to verify.

If you cannot explain what "done" looks like for a step, it is not yet clear enough to delegate.

Constants and variables: the template underneath your work

This is the key insight most people miss.

Every repeatable workflow has a template hiding inside it:

• Constants are the parts that stay the same every time: the structure, the quality criteria, the format, the rules.
• Variables are the parts that change: the specific client, the new data, the particular property, the date range.

Example — the realtor website workflow:

When you identify the constants and variables, you have parameterized your workflow — turned it into a reusable template. The constants become the instructions. The variables become the inputs you swap in each time.

This is the core act of building an AI workflow: extracting the template from your manual process.

Composability: chain steps so they flow

Composability means connecting steps so the output of one becomes the input of the next, without confusion.

Example sequence:

1. Gather updates from email, chat, and project board.
2. Filter for urgency and impact.
3. Summarize into a short priority brief.
4. Route top items into your daily plan.

Each step is simple. Together, they produce a high-value output you would have spent an hour assembling manually.

Named workflows: package it for reuse

Once your steps work together, give the workflow a name:

• Morning Briefing
• Weekly Risk Scan
• Client Prep Pack
• New Property Proposal
• Candidate Screening Report

You do not re-explain every detail each time. You invoke the workflow by name, provide the new inputs (variables), and review the output.

You have gone from doing a task to running a system.

Autonomy levels: not all steps are the same

A critical nuance: within any workflow, different steps deserve different levels of agent independence.

• Full autonomy steps: The agent can handle these without your input. Gathering data. Formatting. Applying your standard template.
• Guided steps: The agent proposes, you approve. Design choices. Tone of messaging. Priority ranking.
• Human-only steps: These require you. Final client communication. Strategic decisions. Anything with relationship or reputational risk.

When you design a workflow, label each step: agent handles, agent proposes / I approve, or I handle.

This keeps you in control without bottlenecking the mechanical work.

Quick exercise (10 minutes)