The Elastic Loop: From Tool Thinking to Team Dynamics

Many teams fail with AI agents in predictable ways. Sloppy prompts for massive tasks. One-shot attempts. Missing patterns like collaborative planning or structured delegation. The verdict? "Agentic engineering is broken." Not quite. What's missing is a fundamental understanding of how to work with AI effectively.

Here's the paradox: Developers know exactly how to write and slice tickets for human colleagues. Yet with AI, this intuition disappears. Why? They fundamentally misunderstand the technology.

The common mistake is treating AI as just another tool. But successful teams work differently—they treat AI as a team member. This shift from tool thinking to team dynamics changes everything. It determines whether you'll unlock AI's potential or struggle against it.

Context engineering becomes the critical skill, but it's more than just providing information. The real expertise is knowing when an agent can gather what it needs on its own versus when you need hands-on context engineering. This judgment shapes how you collaborate—from async delegation to intensive, real-time iteration. Understanding this spectrum, this "elastic loop" of feedback and interaction, separates successful teams from those still struggling.

A practical introduction for CTOs and IT decision-makers who want to understand why their teams need new skills, and how to build them strategically.