MAX-542 Course Outline
-Offer stack: /orchestrator
-Course title EN: Orchestrate AI Agents
-Course title ES: Orquesta tus Agentes IA
-Price: $197
-Tagline EN: Stop being the QA department for your own AI agents
-Tagline ES: Deja de ser el QA de tus propios agentes
MAX-542 Course Outline
+Offer stack: `/orchestrator`
+Course title EN: **Orchestrate AI Agents**
+Course title ES: **Orquesta tus Agentes IA**
+Price: **$197**
+Tagline EN: **Stop being the QA department for your own AI agents**
+Tagline ES: **Deja de ser el QA de tus propios agentes**
Course promise
-This course teaches operators, founders, and technical leads how to run AI agents with a real delivery system instead of vibe-based prompting. Students will learn how to define tickets, enforce verification, route work across tools, and review outputs with clear operational controls.
+This course teaches operators, founders, and technical leads how to run AI agents with a real delivery system instead of vibe-based prompting. Students learn to define tickets, separate execution from verification, route work across the tools they already use, and review outputs with clear operational controls.
+The core transformation: students stop personally QA-ing every agent output and start operating an inspectable delivery system where agents produce proof, verifiers check claims, and humans only step in for judgment calls.
Ideal student
--
-
- Builders already using AI agents but frustrated by inconsistent delivery -
- Operators managing recurring work across content, engineering, and internal ops -
- Founders who want leverage without becoming the bottleneck reviewer for every output -
- Teams moving from single-chat prompting to durable, ticket-based execution -
Transformation
+• Builders already using AI agents but frustrated by inconsistent delivery
+• Operators managing recurring work across content, engineering, e-commerce, and internal ops
+• Founders who want leverage without becoming the bottleneck reviewer for every output
+• Teams moving from single-chat prompting to durable, ticket-based execution
+Before / after transformation
Before
--
-
- Agents do work, but quality varies wildly -
- The human becomes the final QA layer every time -
- Tasks get redone because context is missing or unverifiable -
- Tool sprawl creates confusion instead of throughput -
• Agents do work, but quality varies wildly
+• The human becomes the final QA layer every time
+• Tasks get redone because context is missing or unverifiable
+• Tool sprawl creates confusion instead of throughput
+• "Done" means the agent said it was done
After
--
-
- Agents execute against scoped tickets with explicit verification criteria -
- Work moves through a repeatable lifecycle instead of ad hoc prompting -
- The human reviews exceptions, not everything -
- AI labor becomes inspectable, auditable, and easier to scale -
• Agents execute against scoped tickets with explicit verification criteria
+• Work moves through a repeatable lifecycle instead of ad hoc prompting
+• The human reviews exceptions, not everything
+• AI labor becomes inspectable, auditable, and easier to scale
+• "Done" means business intent and proof align
Course outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
--
-
- Explain why self-grading agents fail without external verification. -
- Set up a practical board across Linear, GitHub Issues, Notion, or Jira. -
- Define a 5-stage agent delivery lifecycle from intake to done. -
- Write verification criteria that reduce ambiguity and rework. -
- Route work between execution agents, verifier agents, and human review. -
- Build a lightweight operating system for repeatable agent work. -
Module outline
-Module 1. The verification problem
-Goal: Show why prompting alone does not create reliable operations.
+1. Explain why AI self-grading fails without independent verification.
+2. Set up a practical work board in Linear, GitHub Issues, Notion, or Jira.
+3. Run agent work through a 5-stage lifecycle: Intake → Execute → Verify → Review → Done.
+4. Write verification criteria that reduce ambiguity, rework, and reviewer load.
+5. Design domain-specific agent workflows for content, engineering, and e-commerce.
+6. Turn repeated failures into durable rules, templates, and acceptance checks.
+7. Operate team-mode agent workflows with sweep scheduling and escalation rules.
+Course structure
+• **7 modules** aligned to the `/orchestrator` operating model
+• **28 core lessons** plus exercises and templates
+• **Format:** short video lessons, worksheets, board templates, verification checklists, and cloneable `/orchestrator` examples
+• **Languages:** English course with Spanish adaptation track using the same operational skeleton
++
Module 1. The verification problem — why AI self-grading fails
+**Goal:** Show why prompting alone does not create reliable operations.
Lessons
--
-
- Why capable agents still produce low-trust output -
- The trap of AI self-grading -
- Failure modes: hallucinated completion, false confidence, shallow checks -
- Why external artifacts beat agent claims -
1. Why capable agents still produce low-trust output
+2. The trap of AI self-grading and circular confidence
+3. Failure modes: hallucinated completion, false confidence, shallow checks, and hidden regressions
+4. Why external artifacts beat agent claims
Takeaways
--
-
- Reliability comes from system design, not model optimism -
- Verification must be separated from execution -
- Trust increases when work produces inspectable proof -
• Reliability comes from system design, not model optimism
+• Verification must be separated from execution
+• Trust increases when work produces inspectable proof
Exercise
Audit one recent agent-delivered task and identify where execution and verification were mixed together.
+Deliverable
+A short failure map showing: request, agent claim, actual proof, missing verification, and reviewer burden.
-
Module 2. Board setup: Linear, GitHub Issues, Notion, Jira
-Goal: Give students a practical substrate for routing agent work.
+Module 2. Board setup — Linear, GitHub Issues, Notion, Jira
+**Goal:** Give students a practical substrate for routing agent work.
Lessons
--
-
- What makes a board usable for AI operations -
- Choosing between Linear, GitHub Issues, Notion, and Jira -
- Required ticket fields: objective, surface, proof, owner, state -
- Designing a board that humans and agents can both understand -
1. What makes a board usable for AI operations
+2. Choosing between Linear, GitHub Issues, Notion, and Jira
+3. Required ticket fields: objective, surface, proof, owner, state, blocker, and acceptance criteria
+4. Designing a board that humans and agents can both understand
+Recommended board fields
+• **Objective:** what business outcome the ticket serves
+• **Surface:** repo, page, doc, channel, dashboard, campaign, or workflow being changed
+• **Inputs:** links, files, constraints, source material
+• **Deliverable:** what must be created or changed
+• **Proof required:** screenshots, tests, diffs, URLs, metrics, or rendered artifacts
+• **Owner:** human or agent responsible for the current state
+• **State:** Intake, Execute, Verify, Review, Done
Takeaways
--
-
- The board is the source of truth for agent work -
- Clean ticket structure lowers coordination cost -
- Good fields prevent hidden assumptions during execution -
• The board is the source of truth for agent work
+• Clean ticket structure lowers coordination cost
+• Good fields prevent hidden assumptions during execution
Exercise
-Create a template ticket in the student’s preferred system with objective, proof requirements, and delivery surface.
+Create a reusable ticket template in the student’s preferred system with objective, proof requirements, owner, delivery surface, and acceptance criteria.
+Deliverable
+A working AI-agent ticket template for Linear, GitHub Issues, Notion, or Jira.
-
Module 3. The 5-stage ticket lifecycle
-Goal: Teach the operating model that makes agent work reviewable.
+Module 3. The 5-stage ticket lifecycle — Intake → Execute → Verify → Review → Done
+**Goal:** Teach the operating model that makes agent work reviewable.
Lifecycle
--
-
- Intake: clarify the business request and target surface -
- Execute: produce the artifact or implementation -
- Verify: independently check the claimed result -
- Review: human or designated approver inspects exceptions and tradeoffs -
- Done: close only when business intent and proof align -
1. **Intake:** clarify the business request, target surface, constraints, and proof requirements
+2. **Execute:** produce the artifact, implementation, or campaign output
+3. **Verify:** independently check the claimed result against observable criteria
+4. **Review:** human or designated approver inspects exceptions, taste calls, and tradeoffs
+5. **Done:** close only when business intent and proof align
Lessons
--
-
- What belongs in each stage -
- Hand-offs between executor, verifier, and reviewer -
- State transitions that reduce ambiguity -
- Common anti-patterns, including premature “Done” states -
1. What belongs in each stage and what does not
+2. Hand-offs between executor, verifier, reviewer, and owner
+3. State transitions that reduce ambiguity
+4. Common anti-patterns, including premature Done, vague Review, and skipped Verify states
Takeaways
--
-
- A ticket lifecycle is an operational control layer -
- Verification deserves its own explicit stage -
- Review is faster when upstream proof is consistent -
• A ticket lifecycle is an operational control layer
+• Verification deserves its own explicit stage
+• Review is faster when upstream proof is consistent
Exercise
Map one existing team workflow into the 5-stage model and note what is missing.
+Deliverable
+A lifecycle map for one real recurring workflow, including owner, input, output, proof, and escalation at each stage.
-
Module 4. Writing verification criteria
-Goal: Help students create checks that agents can execute and humans can trust.
+Module 4. Writing verification criteria — automated checks vs AI quality checks
+**Goal:** Help students create checks that agents can execute and humans can trust.
Lessons
--
-
- The anatomy of strong verification criteria -
- Artifact proof vs. business proof vs. surface correctness -
- Converting vague requests into testable completion standards -
- Examples for content, code, operations, and research tasks -
1. The anatomy of strong verification criteria
+2. Automated checks: tests, lint, typecheck, build, links, schema validation, and visual regression
+3. AI quality checks: rubric scoring, completeness review, tone review, strategy review, and contradiction checks
+4. Converting vague requests into testable completion standards
+5. Examples for content, code, operations, and research tasks
Verification framework
For each ticket, define:
--
-
- Artifact delta: what changed, created, or shipped -
- Business delta: why the change matters or what outcome it enables -
- Surface correctness: how we know it landed in the right place and format -
• **Artifact delta:** what changed, created, or shipped
+• **Business delta:** why the change matters or what outcome it enables
+• **Surface correctness:** how we know it landed in the right place and format
+• **Automated gate:** the smallest reliable machine-checkable proof
+• **Quality gate:** the rubric or judgment criteria for non-deterministic work
+• **Human gate:** the point where taste, risk, or authority requires human approval
Takeaways
--
-
- Verification criteria should be observable, not interpretive -
- Strong proof reduces reviewer load dramatically -
- The ticket should tell the verifier what “done” actually means -
• Verification criteria should be observable, not interpretive
+• Strong proof reduces reviewer load dramatically
+• Automated checks and AI quality checks solve different problems
+• The ticket should tell the verifier what “done” actually means
Exercise
Rewrite three vague requests into tickets with explicit verification criteria and required proof.
+Deliverable
+Three before/after ticket rewrites with artifact proof, automated checks, AI quality checks, and human approval rules.
++
Module 5. Domain skills — content, engineering, e-commerce
+**Goal:** Show students how to adapt the same orchestration system to different business domains.
+Lessons
+1. Why domain skills matter: agents need operating context, not just instructions
+2. Content workflows: brief → draft → edit → package → publish proof
+3. Engineering workflows: ticket → implementation → tests → PR → review proof
+4. E-commerce workflows: product update → listing QA → pricing/checkouts → publish proof
+5. How to write reusable domain rules without overfitting to one task
+Domain examples
+#### Content
+• Inputs: angle, audience, offer, channel, brand voice
+• Proof: final asset, platform preview, hook variants, CTA alignment, publish checklist
+#### Engineering
+• Inputs: issue, repo surface, constraints, expected behavior
+• Proof: diff, tests, lint/typecheck/build, screenshots, PR link
+#### E-commerce
+• Inputs: SKU/product, price, inventory, listing copy, images, marketplace rules
+• Proof: listing preview, price verification, checkout path, image compliance, publish URL
+Takeaways
+• The lifecycle stays stable while domain criteria change
+• Reusable skills reduce repeated instruction overhead
+• Domain-specific verification is what makes agent output operationally useful
+Exercise
+Choose one domain and create a skill card with inputs, outputs, proof requirements, failure modes, and escalation triggers.
+Deliverable
+One reusable domain skill card for content, engineering, or e-commerce.
-
Suggested bonus module. Orchestrating specialist agents
-Goal: Show how execution, verification, and review agents work together in practice.
+Module 6. Self-improving rules — every failure becomes a rule
+**Goal:** Teach students how to convert agent mistakes into durable operating improvements.
Lessons
--
-
- Executor vs. verifier vs. supervisor roles -
- When to parallelize work and when not to -
- Escalation rules for blockers and human decisions -
- Keeping context small while preserving continuity -
1. The failure-capture loop: incident → cause → rule → template update → next run
+2. How to distinguish one-off mistakes from systemic rules
+3. Writing rules that agents can actually follow
+4. Updating ticket templates, verification checklists, and domain skills after failures
+5. Avoiding rule bloat and contradictory instructions
+Rule improvement loop
+1. Capture the failed ticket and the exact failure mode
+2. Identify whether the failure came from missing context, weak acceptance criteria, poor verification, or tool misuse
+3. Add one small rule to the relevant template, skill, or checklist
+4. Re-run or verify the next similar task against the new rule
+5. Remove or consolidate rules that no longer earn their complexity
+Takeaways
+• A good agent system gets safer after each failure
+• The fix is usually a better rule, checklist, or proof requirement—not a longer prompt
+• Rules should live where future agents will actually see them
Exercise
-Design a mini multi-agent workflow for one recurring business process.
-Delivery format
--
-
- 4 core modules, 1 optional bonus module -
- Each lesson designed for short video delivery -
- Each module ends with an implementation exercise -
- English and Spanish versions share the same operational skeleton -
Recommended lesson pacing
--
-
- Module 1: 20 to 25 minutes -
- Module 2: 25 to 30 minutes -
- Module 3: 25 to 30 minutes -
- Module 4: 25 to 30 minutes -
- Bonus module: 15 to 20 minutes -
Estimated total runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes
-Production notes
+Take one real agent failure and write the exact rule/template/checklist update that would prevent recurrence.
+Deliverable
+A failure-to-rule log with at least three entries and one updated ticket template or skill checklist.
++
Module 7. Team mode + sweep scheduling
+**Goal:** Help students operate `/orchestrator` as a recurring team workflow instead of a one-off demo.
+Lessons
+1. Team mode: coordinator, executor, verifier, reviewer, and owner roles
+2. Sweep scheduling: recurring checks for stale tickets, missing proof, blocked work, and ready-for-review items
+3. Escalation rules for blockers, risky changes, and human decisions
+4. Operating cadence: daily sweep, weekly cleanup, and post-failure rule updates
+5. Metrics that matter: cycle time, verification failure rate, reviewer load, and escaped defects
+Team operating model
+• **Coordinator:** decomposes work and assigns ownership
+• **Executor:** creates the artifact or implementation
+• **Verifier:** checks proof against criteria independently
+• **Reviewer:** handles judgment, taste, risk, and final approval
+• **Owner:** accountable for business outcome and closing the loop
+Sweep examples
+• Find tickets stuck in Execute without proof
+• Find Review tickets missing screenshots, tests, URLs, or diffs
+• Find Done tickets with no business proof
+• Find repeated failure modes that deserve new rules
+• Find recurring work that should become a scheduled orchestrator run
+Takeaways
+• Scheduling creates consistency without constant human babysitting
+• Team mode works when roles and handoffs are explicit
+• Good operations make agent leverage compound over time
+Exercise
+Design one scheduled sweep for a real board and define the trigger, query, action, owner, and escalation path.
+Deliverable
+A team-mode operating cadence with one daily sweep, one weekly cleanup, and one escalation rule.
++
Funnel trigger
+**Trigger:** GitHub install → first verified ticket → course CTA for domain depth
+Funnel logic
+1. User installs or clones `/orchestrator`
+2. User runs their first ticket through Execute and Verify
+3. They see the gap between ad hoc agent work and a real operating system
+4. CTA introduces the course as the next step for templates, domain skills, board setup, and team-mode workflows
+CTA placements
+• GitHub README after quickstart and first verified ticket example
+• `/orchestrator` proof artifact examples
+• Post-install success message or docs page
+• Newsletter and launch emails for builders using agent workflows
+English / Spanish adaptation notes
English hooks
--
-
- Your AI agent is not failing because it is dumb. It is failing because your system has no verification layer. -
- If you are checking every agent output yourself, you do not have leverage. You have a new intern. -
- The goal is not more prompts. The goal is a delivery system. -
• Your AI agent is not failing because it is dumb. It is failing because your system has no verification layer.
+• If you are checking every agent output yourself, you do not have leverage. You have a new intern.
+• The goal is not more prompts. The goal is a delivery system.
+• Stop being the QA department for your own AI agents.
Spanish hooks
--
-
- Tu agente no falla por falta de inteligencia. Falla porque tu sistema no tiene una capa de verificación. -
- Si estás revisando cada entrega del agente, no tienes apalancamiento. Tienes otro trabajo. -
- La meta no es escribir más prompts. La meta es construir un sistema de entrega. -
• Tu agente no falla por falta de inteligencia. Falla porque tu sistema no tiene una capa de verificación.
+• Si estás revisando cada entrega del agente, no tienes apalancamiento. Tienes otro trabajo.
+• La meta no es escribir más prompts. La meta es construir un sistema de entrega.
+• Deja de ser el QA de tus propios agentes.
+Adaptation guidance
+• Keep module structure identical in EN and ES
+• Localize examples for Spanish-speaking operators and founders
+• Avoid literal translation when the operational metaphor is clearer in Spanish
+• Preserve `/orchestrator`, ticket lifecycle, verification, and proof terminology consistently
+Production deliverables
+1. **Course outline finalized:** this document
+2. **Modules scripted (EN):** one script brief per lesson using this outline
+3. **Spanish track adaptation:** translated/adapted lesson briefs, examples, and worksheets
+4. **Course page copy:** promise, bullets, module accordion, FAQ, and CTA
+5. **GitHub README CTA:** install → first verified ticket → course CTA
Final deliverable recommendation
Turn this outline into:
--
-
- a lesson-by-lesson script brief, -
- a worksheet with ticket and verification templates, -
- a companion board template for
/orchestratorusers.
-