This guide explains the complete lifecycle of agent development — from defining business requirements to testing the final implementation.
It ensures every agent is aligned with business objectives, technically sound, and maintainable at scale.
1
Step 1 — Define Business Requirements
1.1 Clarify Objectives
Start with a clear, concise description of what problem the agent solves and why it matters.
Example: “Automate weekly report creation to remove repetitive manual steps and ensure consistency.”
1.2 Define Functional Requirements (FR)
Each FR must be testable, traceable, and measurable.
FR Code
Name
Description
Acceptance Criteria
FR-001
Agent Creation
Allow creation of new report agents from spreadsheet configuration
New agents created per row entry
FR-002
Template Copy
Generate report documents from predefined templates
Generated file matches template and naming rule
FR-003
Reminder Trigger
Send reminders to PICs before deadline
Reminder email sent on schedule
FR-004
Delivery Mechanism
Auto-deliver final reports to recipients
Reports delivered successfully
FR-005
Audit Logging
Log all scheduled runs and delivery status.
Logs retrievable for review and compliance.
Use an SDD (Spec Driven Development) approach to capture user scenarios, acceptance criteria, functional requirements, and key entities. Please refer to this as an example.
1.3 Create Business Flow
Draw a flowchart showing the overall lifecycle before diving into details. This makes it easy to identify reusable components across agents.
For example:
Use Google Drawings to make it collaborative and gather feedback efficiently.
A sequence diagram clarifies data flow, dependencies, and API / Tool calls.
For example, Create Report Stage:
2.2 Alternative Option
If sequence diagrams can’t be created in time, you also can use a Markdown file to clarify the data flow, dependencies and API / Tool calls.
3
Step 3 — Design the Agent Diagram
3.1 Define Agents and Tools
Use an Agent Architecture Diagram to map all agent components and their tools.
For example:
3.2 Agent Creation Best Practices
✅ Do’s
Map the end-to-end flow before building.
Keep each agent focused on a single intent.
Define tool contracts and example I/O before prompt tuning.
Test tools and sub-agents before testing the coordinator.
🚫 Don’ts
Don’t start without a mapped flow.
Don’t combine multiple intents in one agent.
Don’t tune prompts before tool definitions.
Don’t test the coordinator first.
Use Google Drawings to make it collaborative and gather feedback efficiently.
Example Agent Diagram that use Google Drawings can refer to this.
Note: Always begin with a single agent using multiple tools.
Introduce sub-agents only for complex tasks — but remember they add latency since each sub-agent runs its own reasoning cycle.
4
Step 4 — Define Test Case Scenarios (TDD Approach)
4.1 Purpose
Test cases act as guards to ensure agents fulfill business requirements and behave consistently.
✅ Cross-check the process (input → output) with flow chart diagram
✅ Cross-check tool usage with agent diagram
4.4 Collaboration Tip
Document test cases in a shared spreadsheet and update them whenever logic changes.
For agent integration testing, please refer to this cookbook.
For agent development after following all the steps, you can refer to Multi-Agent System Patterns to start creating agent or practice first with the Hands-On Examplesto explore tools and multi-agent flows.
📚 Summary
Phase
Deliverable
Purpose
Step 1 – Business Req
Functional Requirements (SDD) and Flow Chart
Define the “what” and “why”
Step 2 – Technical Req
Sequence Diagram or Markdown File
Define the “how”
Step 3 – Agent Design
Agent Diagram
Define who does what
Step 4 – Testing
Test Case Spreadsheet
Validate expected behavior
Following this 4-step framework ensures every agent is:
