Signal vs. Noise
Signal vs. Noise: Your Optimization Target
The point of building agent workflows is simple: increase signal, reduce noise, improve outcomes.
What is signal?
Signal is information that changes a decision or improves your execution.
For you, signal might be:
- A risk that needs action this week.
- A trend that should change your priorities.
- A dependency blocking your team's delivery.
- A customer issue that affects retention.
- A decision-ready summary with clear options.
If information does not change what you do, it is probably noise.
What is noise?
Noise is information that consumes attention without improving outcomes.
Common noise:
- Duplicate updates across channels.
- Low-priority notifications.
- Status reports with no implication.
- Long documents with no decision context.
- Data without recommendation.
Noise is expensive because it steals focus from meaningful work. Every minute spent processing noise is a minute not spent on signal.
Design for decisions, not summaries
The goal of every workflow you build is not "produce a document." It is "make a decision easier."
Useful output:
- Highlights what changed.
- Shows what matters right now.
- Gives clear options or next steps.
- Reduces hesitation.
- Enables action.
Always evaluate your agent's output against real decisions you face. If a workflow saves time but does not improve decision quality, redesign it.
A simple weekly score
Track these for each workflow you build:
| Metric | How to Measure |
|---|---|
| Time saved | Hours per week you are not spending on mechanical steps |
| Decision clarity | 1–5: How much easier are decisions with this workflow's output? |
| Missed signals | Did anything important slip through? |
| False positives | Did the agent flag things that turned out not to matter? |
| Rework needed | How much did you have to fix or redo? |
If time saved rises while decision clarity improves and rework drops, you are on the right track.