Article
Before you trust an AI agent with business work, put it inside a JAR.
JAR stands for Job, Authority, and Review. It gives the agent a defined responsibility, clear boundaries, and a schedule for checking its work.
AI agents are a bit like interns. They begin without the context your team has built over years. The more definition you give them, the better they can work without creating trouble elsewhere in the business.
Job
Give the agent a specific job.
State what you want it to do and what falls inside its responsibility. A broad instruction leaves too much room for the agent to guess. A narrow job gives you something concrete to test.
The definition should be clear enough that you can tell when the agent completed the work and when it wandered outside the assignment.
Authority
Define what the agent can discuss and who it can speak to.
Think through the information it may encounter:
- Products
- Prices
- Staff
- Customers
Decide what the agent is allowed to say about each one. Then define what it must hold back.
These boundaries matter because an agent can hallucinate, make up a price or product, or communicate with the wrong person when its authority is vague.
Review
Review the agent's output closely when it begins working.
At the start, check everything it creates. As the process settles and you understand how the agent behaves, move to a regular review once or twice a week.
Review stays part of the job. The schedule may change, but someone still needs to confirm that the agent is producing the right output and staying within its authority.
Start with the container
Write down the agent's job, authority, and review process before expanding what it can do.
That small container gives your team a practical way to test the agent, catch mistakes, and tighten the instructions. It also reduces the chance of an agent inventing information or reaching people it should never contact.
Job. Authority. Review. Set those three pieces first, then give the agent room to work inside them.