Agent Token Waste Monitoring
When To Use
- After parallel agent dispatch completes
- When evaluating whether to increase agent count
- During retrospectives on agent-heavy workflows
- When plan-before-large-dispatch rule triggers
When NOT To Use
- Single-agent workflows (no coordination overhead)
- During active agent execution (post-hoc analysis)
- For token budgeting (use token-conservation instead)
Brooks's Law for Agents
Dispatching more agents does not always help. Coordination overhead grows with agent count:
| Agent Count | Expected Overhead | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Negligible | Dispatch freely |
| 4-5 | 10-15% | Acceptable; plan first |
| 6-8 | 20-30% | Monitor closely |
| 9+ | 30%+ | Likely counterproductive |
Coordination overhead is measured as shared-file conflicts: concurrent Read/Write operations on the same file by different agents, as a percentage of total agent runtime.
Post-Dispatch Review Checklist
After parallel agent runs, evaluate:
- Did each agent produce unique findings?
- Was total token expenditure proportional to value?
- Did any agent duplicate another's work?
- Would fewer agents have produced the same result?
If 2+ questions answer no, reduce agent count in future dispatches of the same type.
Waste Signals
See modules/waste-signals.md for the 5 waste signal categories and
detection criteria.
Cross-References
- Dispatching 4 or more agents needs an agreed plan first: the roster, each agent's scope, and the output contract it returns. 1-3 agents may dispatch directly.
conserve:token-conservationfor session-level token budgetingconjure:agent-teamsfor dispatch coordination
Exit Criteria
- All 4 post-dispatch review questions answered with explicit yes/no per agent (unique findings, proportional expenditure, no duplication, fewer agents sufficient)
- Waste signals from
modules/waste-signals.mdchecked against the completed run; any triggered signal named with the category - A recommendation is produced: either "reduce agent count to N" or "dispatch was efficient" with coordination overhead percentage
- If 2+ review questions answer no, a concrete agent-count reduction is stated for future dispatches of the same type
