Research 05/July 2026 · Tests Thesis 004

The Agent Ownership Study

What happens to a workflow when nobody owns the agent running part of it.

Mika Tanaka, Jonas Mendes. 14 organizations · 61 deployed agents. Tests Thesis 004, Every Organization Is Becoming a Human-Machine System.

Research 05July 2026Tests Thesis 004

What we found

We followed 61 agents deployed into production workflows for two quarters. Where an agent had a named owner with authority to change its scope, the workflow improved. Where it had oversight but no owner, it degraded below baseline within a quarter.

The full report, method and data tables are being prepared for publication. This page holds the abstract and the thesis the study tests.

In order of confidence

  1. Findings are published when the review standard is met.

    Every study names the thesis it supports or challenges, the sample, and what it does not establish before its findings are released.

How the study was run

Method and instrument are published with the full report.

Limitations
  • Limitations are published alongside findings, not after them.