We Let Our Financial Planners Write the Agents — Matthew Ragone, Range
Summary
This talk outlines a non-coding methodology for Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), specifically financial planners, to build and maintain AI agents, referred to as 'skills.' The process captures institutional knowledge and specific firm workflows, allowing agents to draft complex analyses (e.g., cash flow or insurance reports) while the SME is engaged in other tasks. The core principle is that the agent must replicate *how* the firm operates, not just general best practices. The process emphasizes structured judgment, rigorous testing, and mandatory human review at every stage.
Key takeaways
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The Agent's Role is Drafting, Not Sending
3:10
A critical safety constraint is that the agent drafts all recommendations, but a human planner must fully review and approve every single recommendation before it is sent to a client. This ensures regulatory compliance and quality control.
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Skills Capture Institutional Judgment
5:30
A 'skill' is defined as the firm's specific way of performing a piece of work, capturing not just the steps, but the mandatory questions the agent must ask and the limits it must respect. This moves beyond simple prompt engineering.
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The Five-Step Build Process (Pick, Teach, Pack, Test, Ship)
5:16
The methodology for building a skill requires five steps: 1) Pick a repeatable workflow that is easy to judge; 2) Teach the judgment by narrating real client cases; 3) Pack the knowledge into a skill, defining questions and limits; 4) Test the skill 5-10 times on real cases to find edge cases; and 5) Ship it with a dedicated owner and a separate reviewer.
Technical details
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Skill Definition
250s
A skill is a structured representation of a firm's process, requiring the agent to know 'how Range does it,' including specific flags, phrasing, and mandatory questions, rather than just general financial planning principles.
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Workflow Selection Criteria
370s
When selecting a workflow, SMEs should choose processes that are done often, require significant manual work, and whose output can be judged quickly (e.g., cash flow analysis or insurance reviews).
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Skill Constraints
420s
Skills must include defined questions (what the agent needs to know) and limits (what it must never do on its own). The primary limit in this regulated environment is that the agent never sends anything directly to a client.
Mentioned resources
Channel & topics
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