What the Best Agents Share — Mardu Swanepoel, Flinn AI

2026-05-26 · Source: AI Engineer · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Robotics & Autonomous Systems · Depth: Intermediate, medium

Summary

Mardu Swanepoel of Flinn AI identifies four key patterns shared by top-performing AI agents, advocating for deep study of existing solutions to build better systems. These patterns include "Focus Modes," which constrain an agent's action and input space, like Cursor's planning or debug modes, improving output quality and aligning user expectations. "Transparent Execution" shifts interaction from delegation to collaboration by making agent processes, tool calls, and reasoning visible, as seen in Claude co-work and Manifold, fostering trust and enabling early user intervention. "Personalization" integrates user-specific knowledge and principles, optimizing for "speed of understanding" rather than just output speed, exemplified by Harvey's legal playbooks and Claude's skills. Finally, "Reversibility" allows users to undo agent actions, reducing the cost of mistakes and encouraging bolder engagement, a feature well-implemented in Cursor's granular rollbacks and Harvey's Word API integration.

Key takeaway

For AI Engineers and Architects designing agent-based systems, prioritize integrating user-centric patterns to enhance adoption and reliability. Implement focus modes to guide user expectations and improve output quality. Ensure transparent execution to build trust and enable early intervention. Offer personalization options for deeper understanding, and crucially, provide robust reversibility features to mitigate risk and encourage users to tackle higher-value tasks with confidence.

Key insights

Best agents integrate specific patterns to enhance user trust, control, and understanding.

Principles

• Constrain agent scope for quality.
• Transparency builds user trust.
• Personalization improves understanding.

In practice

• Implement "Focus Modes" for specific tasks.
• Expose agent's internal reasoning and tool use.
• Allow granular undo/rollback of agent actions.

Topics

• AI Agents
• Agent Design Patterns
• User Experience
• Transparent AI
• Personalization
• Reversibility

Best for: AI Engineer, AI Architect, AI Product Manager

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by AI Engineer.