Four loops, four clocks.
Loops nest. The inner ones cycle in seconds; the outer ones cycle in weeks. Agents own the inner rings. You conduct from the outside — direction, taste, final verdict.
Improve the loops themselves. Read traces, find failure patterns, upgrade skills and evals. The season: choosing next year's repertoire.
Iterate on the whole codebase and backlog. Decide what gets built next and whether it shipped well. The concert: the program, start to finish.
Complete one artifact against a spec and its tests. This is where most agent runs live. The piece: rehearse until it's right.
A single agent turn: reason, act, observe. The atomic beat every outer loop is built from. The bar: one measure at a time.
Gold rings are yours. Violet rings belong to the agents. The craft is deciding where the handoff sits.