Council Architecture

A single agent takes orders and executes. A council deliberates, weighs competing perspectives, and produces decisions that no individual agent would reach alone. This is the architectural leap from delegation to collective intelligence. When you have three agents looking at the same problem — one optimizing for speed, one for cost, one for quality — the council structure forces them to reconcile those competing priorities before a decision ships. That reconciliation is where the value lives.

The council pattern has three structural components. First, a roster — the fixed set of agents eligible to participate in deliberation. Not every agent weighs in on every decision. A pricing council does not need the social media agent. A content council does not need the billing agent. Roster discipline prevents noise. Second, a deliberation protocol — the sequence in which agents contribute their analysis. Parallel deliberation is fast but risks groupthink if agents can see each other's responses. Sequential deliberation is slower but produces independent analysis. Third, a resolution mechanism — the rule that converts individual agent positions into a council decision.

1. Define the Roster Select agents whose specializations are relevant to the decision domain. Three to five agents per council is the operational sweet spot. Fewer than three and you lose the benefit of diverse perspectives. More than five and deliberation time explodes without proportional quality gain.
2. Choose Deliberation Mode Parallel mode: all agents analyze simultaneously without seeing each other's work. Best for independent assessment where you want unbiased perspectives. Sequential mode: agents build on each other's analysis in a defined order. Best for complex problems where later agents benefit from earlier context.
3. Set the Resolution Rule Majority vote, weighted vote, unanimous consent, or designated authority. The choice depends on the stakes. Low-stakes operational decisions use majority vote. High-stakes strategic decisions use unanimous consent with human escalation on deadlock.