What job should the planner own in a planner-executor agent?

Instruction: Explain the planner role without turning it into a second executor.

Context: Checks whether the candidate can explain the core concept clearly and connect it to real production decisions. Explain the planner role without turning it into a second executor.

Updated

Example Answer

I would have the planner propose the next steps, required inputs, dependencies, and a clear completion condition. The executor would run only validated actions, record their outcomes, and report facts back to the planner.

For example, a planner could propose checking stock and then placing an order. It cannot grant itself permission to buy. The application checks the account, spending limit, and required approval at the tool boundary before executing the purchase.

I would keep the plan small enough to inspect and allow replanning when new evidence changes the situation. A fixed plan is easier to audit, but it can become wrong after a stock change. Replanning should update the proposal without silently expanding the user's goal or authority.

Why this works

The answer gives each layer a concrete responsibility and makes approval an application control, rather than a planner opinion.

Follow-up to prepare for

What happens if inventory changes between planning and purchase? Recheck the purchase preconditions and ask again if the approved action changes materially.

Your preparation path

Work through these questions in order. Read the answer aloud, then explain it in your own words.

1. Start with the foundations

Build the vocabulary and explain the core decisions.

  1. When would you use a deterministic workflow instead of an agent? Free sample
  2. What state should persist between agent turns? Free sample
  3. How do you decide whether an agent should ask a human for approval? Free sample

2. Apply it to a real workflow

Practice diagnosis, validation, and everyday tradeoffs.

  1. How would you keep an agent from looping on the same failed action? Free sample
  2. When do multi-agent systems create more risk than value? Member answer
  3. An agent keeps choosing the wrong skill. How would you diagnose and fix its catalog? Member answer

3. Prepare for senior discussions

Explain failure boundaries, recovery, and production choices.

  1. Design an agent that can resume after partial failure without repeating side effects. Member answer
  2. After a model upgrade, how would you decide which agent-harness rules to remove? Member answer
  3. An agent's execution container dies halfway through a task. What survives, and how does it recover? Member answer

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