Treat the agent like a new employee
No one hires someone on Monday and hands them the bank password that same day. They start with the basics and get access as they show they can handle it.
It's the same with an agent. Access isn’t all or nothing: you choose each item, and can grant more later.
Renata was going to connect the reminder agent to WhatsApp, the schedule, the patient spreadsheet, and the card reader. She stopped first and made a new list.
How to read the diagram: count the lines that leave each agent. There are four on the left, and the last ends in red, at the money. There are two on the right, and each says what it can do ("read only," "send"). The dashed boxes are tools that exist but that the agent can’t reach.
🆕 New here? “Least access possible”
It's the rule of giving the agent only the access the task requires — not one more tool. If the reminder works without the spreadsheet, leave the spreadsheet out. If you’re unsure about granting access, the answer is “no, for now.”
✓ New employee welcomed properly
- ✓Start with just one task.
- ✓It gets the keys to the rooms it will use.
- ✓Get more access after proving your value.
✗ Agent connected to everything on day one
- ✗Three tasks mixed into a single request.
- ✗Access to all accounts “just in case it’s needed.”
- ✗No one can say what it can or can't do.
access gradually
it’s not all or nothing
only what the task asks for
pays off over time
Decide what it can read
The first key is the weakest—and the one most people hand over without thinking. Read seems harmless: it only looks, it doesn't change anything.
But what it reads may contain client data, and may include outside text giving instructions (that’s trail 4). So the question is: to do this task, what does it need to see — and only that?
| Task | Need to read | You don’t need to read |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment reminder (Renata) | next day’s calendar: name, time, phone number | medical record, payment history, photos |
| Review documents (Marcos) | files that arrive on the office’s WhatsApp | personal email, statements from all clients |
| Answer questions about hours (store) | business hours, address | customer list, inventory, invoices |
What to look for in the table: The middle column is always short. When the "needs to read" list gets long, be suspicious: you’ve probably combined two tasks in one agent.
💡 Practical tip
Prefer to give a folder to give the entire disk; a tab from the spreadsheet to giving them the whole spreadsheet; one calendar separate from your personal calendar. Almost every app lets you filter it this way — look for "share only this folder" or "choose calendar".
the weakest key
folder, tab, calendar
reading is also touching
can bring in orders
Decide what it can change and send
The second key is where the agent stops looking and starts changing things. Change is to change something of yours: a spreadsheet row, a calendar time. Send is to send something out: a message, an email, a file.
They’re not the same level. You can undo a change inside the house. You can’t take back a message that reached a client.
How to read the diagram: each level gives the agent more power and increases the damage a mistake can cause. The purple levels (reading and drafting) cause almost no harm. The blue ones already touch real things. The red one can't be undone. For each task, ask: How many levels up does it need to go?
✓ Well-written changes and sends
- ✓“You may write only in the Conferência tab.”
- ✓“You may send reminders only, using the approved template.”
- ✓“You may send messages only to people with an appointment tomorrow.”
✗ Changes and sends left open
- ✗“You may organize the spreadsheet however you think best.”
- ✗“You may reply to clients.”
- ✗“You may send a message to the list.”
changes something of yours
goes outside
how high it goes
"only," "just," "never"
Decide what needs your approval
The third key stays with you. Approval is the moment when the agent stops, shows you what it’s about to do, and waits for a person to say “yes.”
You don’t need to approve everything—or the agent just becomes more work. But three things always go through a person, without exception: money, deletion, and publishing.
How to read the diagram: the shining gate is you. Nothing reaches the blue box (the real world) without passing through it. If the answer is “no,” the red arrow sends the work back to the agent—the mistake dies there, before it gets out. The three boxes below are the actions that always get through the gate.
| Always with approval | Example at the clinic | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 💳 Money | charge a deposit, issue a refund, generate a payment slip | money that’s gone rarely comes back on its own |
| 🗑️ Deletion | delete a "duplicate" patient, clear the calendar | without a copy, there's no way to recover |
| 📢 Publishing | Instagram post, promotion to the list | a lot of people see it before you delete it |
⚠️ Attention
“Approve everything with one click without reading” isn’t approval. If you catch yourself automatically clicking “yes,” the agent is asking for approval too often—or you’re at the wrong level. Reduce what goes through the gate, but read what does.
waits for your yes
always
always
always
Ensure there’s a record and an off switch
The last two keys are for when something has already gone wrong. The record says what the agent did. The shutdown button make it stop.
Without a record, no one knows what to fix. Without a shutoff button—or with a button only one person knows how to find—the error keeps happening while you search.
🆕 New here? Log and shutoff switch
- Log (or history, log) — the list of what the agent did, with date and time: "10:02 a.m. sent a reminder to Ana," "10:03 a.m. checked the calendar." Many apps already keep this; look for "activity" or "history" in the settings.
- Shutdown button — the fastest way to stop the agent: pause the automation, disconnect WhatsApp, remove email access. It has to work in one minute, without needing you.
Marcos tested this before he needed it. See what happened during the week he went on vacation:
Before vacation
Marcos showed his assistant Júlia where the log is and how to disconnect email in the agent settings. She repeated the steps on her own.
Tuesday, 9:40 a.m.
A customer calls: they received two charges for a pending document, but the document had already been submitted.
9:41 a.m. — shutoff button
Júlia disconnects the agent’s email. It took less than a minute. No new messages go out.
9:50 a.m. — record
Using the history, she finds the 4 customers who received the duplicate charge and calls each one. Marcos only finds out when she gets back, with everything resolved.
💡 Minute test
Ask the person who will turn off the agent to do it now, with a clock in hand, without your help. If it takes more than a minute, or they need to call you, the off button doesn't exist yet—it only exists in your head.
what it did, date and time
in one minute
doesn’t depend on you
rehearse first
Fill out the five-controls worksheet
Now put the five keys on one sheet. This is just planning: nothing changes in your app yet. It takes about ten minutes.
Use the agent you chose in module 1.2 and the process you defined in track 2. Skipped both? Think of any task you'd like to hand off to an agent.
Copy this to your phone's Notes or to a piece of paper. Replace what's between < >. If you'd like help, paste it into the AI chat you use and ask: "ask me one question at a time until this form is filled out."
FICHA DO AGENTE: <nome da tarefa, ex.: lembrete de consultas> Dono (quem responde por ele): <nome> 1. LER: <o que ele pode ver — e só isso> 2. MUDAR E ENVIAR: <o que ele pode alterar ou mandar, e para quem> 3. APROVAÇÃO: <o que espera o meu sim antes de acontecer> 4. REGISTRO: <onde confiro o que ele fez, com dia e hora> 5. DESLIGAR: <quem desliga, e como, em até 1 minuto> Substituto na minha ausência: <nome> Sempre com aprovação: dinheiro, exclusão, publicação. Fora de alcance (de propósito): <ferramentas que ele NÃO recebe>
💡 Example: Renata’s form
- Read: next day’s calendar (name, time, phone number).
- Change and send: only reminders through the clinic's WhatsApp. It doesn't reschedule or cancel.
- Approval: the reminder template; the agent only changes the name and time. Any other message waits for Renata.
- Log: the clinic’s WhatsApp message history.
- Turn off: Renata disconnects WhatsApp in the agent settings—or the receptionist does it when she’s unavailable.
- Out of scope: patient spreadsheet and card reader.
Quick test (optional): a sales agent will issue payment slips to customers. Which control must not be missing?
five lines, one page
who is responsible for it
deliberately written
the sheet changes over time
🎓 Module summary
Next module:
3.2 — Three rules and real cases