Why 'agent creep' kills productivity — keep your agent team small

The temptation to keep adding agents is real, but agent creep is exactly how you burn tokens, spin your wheels, and stop making progress. The principle is simple: only add an agent if you genuinely need it. A small number of agents focused on high-quality, high-value work will outperform a sprawling team every time. Make sure every agent meets your bar, have a chief of staff manage them, and only create a new agent if the work is mission-critical. That's exactly the same standard you'd apply when talking to a chief of staff who manages a human team.