“Agent council” became a practical pattern in 2026: instead of one agent that writes and ships, a small panel — researcher, critic, compliance — reaches consensus before a human or rule decides.

The pattern reduces crude errors but raises cost and latency; overkill for low-risk work, valuable for payments or legal publishing.

Pilot a three-agent council on one approval workflow — propose → critique → decide — and compare error rate to a single-agent baseline for two weeks.

If the council only adds time without cutting error, simplify — consensus is not the goal; decision quality is.

Manager action: Pilot a 3-agent council on one approval workflow; compare error rate to your single-agent baseline for two weeks.