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Field Guide · level 6 · Advanced and by role

Who is in charge when people and agents work together?

Give each agent a row: who briefs, reviews and changes it, and its log.

5 min · try it 10 min · as of Oct 2026
Bring this to your team · AI implementationAgents set up in your own tools, each with a named owner, a reviewer and a log. Get in touch
01

Who said yes?

Your team's agent emailed a client. Nobody can say who approved it.

02

A row for every agent

Give each agent a row on the team's chart, like a colleague.

  1. Who briefs it
  2. Who reviews its work
  3. Who may change it
  4. Its log
03

Who briefs it

One named person gives it the job and what done looks like.

04

Who reviews its work

A named person checks its work before anything leaves the team.

05

Who may change it

One named person changes its steps, tools and permissions. Others ask them.

06

Its log

What it did, when, on whose brief, who checked. Where the team can see.

07

A person behind every agent.

This week, list your agents and fill each row. Leave no box empty.

Try it · 10 minutes

Draw your team's agent chart

Settings and paper only. Nothing goes into a chat.

  1. Open Scheduled and your shared projects.2 min
  2. Copy the chart. One row per agent.2 min
  3. Fill each box: a name, or where its log lives.4 min
  4. “Everyone” in a box? Ask who owns it.2 min

The chart, on paper or in a doc of your own

Agent and its jobBriefs itReviews itMay change itWhere its log is
Monday report

Good looks likeEvery agent's row, every box filled.

In your assistant · as of Oct 2026 · Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini

Where each box lives

Menus move often. On a work plan, your admin may control these.

  • CheckOne editor per agent
  • CheckRuns you can open
  • CheckOnly access it needs

Give each agent only the access its job needs.

Claude

Calls it a task, in a project

Brief
the projectthena new chat

Say the job and what done looks like. Every chat in it follows the project's instructions.

Review

Keep asking first on

By default Claude asks before it takes an action. The named reviewer gives the yes.

Change
Share projectthenCan edit

For one named person: they can change its instructions and files. Everyone else: Can view. Team and Enterprise.

Log
Scheduledthenthe task

Its past runs. Each run is its own session you can open. Not on Free.

Enterprise owners can also export audit logs from Organization settings, Data and Privacy. They leave out what chats say.

ChatGPT

Calls it Work, or a scheduled task

Brief
Work

Describe the outcome you want, and how you will judge it. Work is not available in a shared project.

Review

Approvals pause the task

If approval is required, the task waits until it is reviewed. The named reviewer does that.

Change
Scheduledthenthe task

The named person creates the task in their own account and edits it here.

Log
Scheduled

Review each task's results and schedule. Actions that need approval may pause it.

Share a scheduled task and the other person gets a separate copy in their own account. Give the copy its own row.

Gemini

Calls it a task, or an agent at work

Brief
Taskthendescribe it

Personal accounts on Google AI Pro or Ultra, 18 or over. Not in the UK, EEA, Switzerland or Nigeria.

Review

It asks before it sends

Gemini asks for review before it sends messages or changes data. The named reviewer gives it.

Change
AgentsthenYour agentsthenActionsthenEdit

Gemini Enterprise, at work: its instructions are on the Flow tab. Its owner shares it; admins can transfer ownership.

Log
the task's threadthenprogress chip

Its steps, and the files it read or updated.

Google says every action of its new Gemini agent goes to an audit trail, attributed to the agent (8 Oct 2026).

Quick check · three questions

Did it stick?

  1. 1Two teammates both edit the weekly report agent's instructions. Its report changes every week. What fixes it?

    The answer: C Copies make two agents, and a lock stops every change, the good ones too. One editor keeps one version of how it works.

  2. 2A client asks who approved an email your agent sent last week. What can your team show?

    The answer: A Its summary is its own account, and a setting shows only what it could do. The log names the people.

  3. 3Your agent sends a report every Monday. Its reviewer is on holiday this week. What should happen?

    The answer: B A stand-in named ahead keeps it checked and on time. Sent unchecked, nobody could say who approved it; held back, the report is late.
0 of 3 answered
Why nowSide note
Microsoft's 2026 Work Trend Index names three questions every Frontier Firm, its term for the firms leading on AI, will need to answer. Two of them: “Who reviews agent performance?” and “Who has the authority to update the workflows that agents run?”
What the experts askSide note
Where an agent's unintended actions would have significant consequences, the UK's NCSC advises naming who is responsible for its activity. It also advises treating agent activity like a user's, and keeping its logs safe from change or deletion.
A stand-in for every nameSide note
People go on holiday. Write a stand-in beside each name, so no box is empty in a week its person is away.
Sources, checked 18 Oct 2026Source

Product details as of Oct 2026, each checked on the vendor's own page on 18 and 19 Oct 2026. Recheck by 18 Nov 2026. The examples in the pictures are made up for this lesson.

Free kitThe Agent PlaybookBring this to your teamAI implementation · Get in touchBack to level 6, Advanced and by role

Every agent, its own row.

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