Agentic AI requires new systems thinking
Bill Doerrfeld | April 20, 2026
My
latest for InfoWorld explores emerging best practices for building agentic systems.
What actually goes into building enterprise-grade AI agents?
Excited to share my new feature for InfoWorld exploring emerging best practices for building agentic systems.
I like how Ari Weil puts it: "Building an AI agent is like constructing a nervous system."
That framing holds up. Getting this right requires coordinating a wide range of components: reasoning models, context, tools and discovery, workflows, orchestration, and security.
My piece reviews these building blocks and digs into new practices like context engineering and agent evaluation, with real-world examples from Shopify and Block.
The main takeaway? Agentic systems aren't just a new layer of automation. They require a new form of systems thinking.
Other Blog Posts
Here are my slides from my opening keynote at Nordic APIs Summit 2026, exploring how AI agents are changing API interaction patterns.
My latest research for AI Security University looks at AI tools and resources for pen-testers, red teamers, and bug bounty hunters.
My commissioned feature for Arthur D. Little's PRISM publication analyzes the big shifts underway now that generating code is becoming trivial.
Was happy to participate as a speaker and moderator at SecureMaine on October 8th, 2026.
My latest for LeadDev interviews a Meta engineer who built an agentic system to optimize their capacity planning, leading to real power use savings.
I set out expecting to write an article about how every enterprise was jumping on trendy alternative or "neo" clouds. That ended up not being the case.
Join the virtual AI Pen-Testing Conference to explore how AI is changing penetration testing, red teaming, and the security testing of AI systems.
Counting down to Nordic APIs Summit 2026 in Stockholm, featuring 60+ speakers exploring agentic AI, APIs, MCP, and security.
I covered a Yale and GitHub report on LeadDev that explores developer attitudes on climate change and curbing IT waste.
Does your agent really need access to every tool call under the sun?
