CLAUDE CODE AGENTS: ADVANCED ORCHESTRATION - Chapter 8, Exercise 1
Finding Which Step Caused a Bad Implementation
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QUESTION:
A three-agent chain (research, plan, implement) produces an incorrect
implementation. Describe how you would go about finding which step
actually caused the problem, using this chapter's own guidance.

SOLUTION / EXPLANATION:

This chapter is explicit that a wrong final result could have originated
at any step in the chain, not necessarily the last one - and specifically
recommends checking the earliest step first, rather than assuming the
implementation step (where the problem became visible) is automatically
where it was actually caused.

Following that guidance, the investigation would proceed step by step from
the start of the chain:

1. Check the RESEARCH agent's own findings first. Were they factually
   correct? If the research itself identified the wrong cause, location,
   or context, everything built on top of it downstream is compromised
   through no fault of the later agents - they were working from bad
   input, exactly the "bad input, not a bad agent" distinction this
   chapter draws.

2. If the research was correct, check the PLANNING agent's own proposed
   approach next. Did it correctly reflect the actual research findings,
   and was the approach itself sound? A plan that misinterprets correct
   research, or proposes a flawed approach despite good input, is where
   the problem would actually be found at this step.

3. If both the research and the plan were correct, the problem must be in
   the IMPLEMENTATION step itself - the coding agent either didn't follow
   the plan correctly, or introduced its own separate mistake despite
   having correct information and a sound plan to work from.

Working through the chain in this order - earliest step first - finds the
actual origin of the problem methodically, rather than assuming (simply
because the wrong output surfaced at the implementation stage) that the
coding agent itself must be at fault.

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WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER:
It applies the chapter's own "check the earliest step first" guidance as an
explicit, ordered procedure through all three steps, and connects checking
research and planning first to the chapter's own "bad input vs. bad agent"
distinction rather than jumping straight to blaming the final implementation
step.