What mechanisms are you using to distinguish "agent busy" from "task completed"?

Reddit r/openclaw Tools

Summary

This article discusses an anti-pattern in AI agent systems where agents appear busy but fail to complete tasks. The author suggests separating responsibilities and requiring proof of completion as a solution.

**A Lot of Activity. Not A Lot of Work.** One of the biggest anti-patterns we're seeing in agent systems: The agent is constantly busy. * Planning * Re-planning * Writing documents * Creating checklists * Updating status * Creating more plans But the task never gets finished. The system looks productive. The outcome says otherwise. The root cause is often that the agent is acting as: * Planner * Executor * Auditor * Memory * Project Manager * Recovery System All at once. Humans struggle with that. Agents struggle with it even more. The breakthrough for us wasn't a new model. It was separating responsibilities and requiring proof of completion before a task could be considered done. The lesson: **Activity is not progress.**
Original Article

Similar Articles

Agent followup and verification issues

Reddit r/openclaw

A user describes the problem of AI agents not reporting back after being given tasks and asks the community for solutions and handling methods.