McKinsey Described the Agent Factory. Most Systems Are Still Just Sequences.

McKinsey's concept of the "agent factory" represents a transformative shift in enterprise AI, emphasizing systems where agents coordinate within a continuous, shared context, rather than operating in isolated sequences. Despite the promising direction outlined by McKinsey, many teams mistakenly adopt the model as a straightforward upgrade rather than recognizing it as a fundamental system requirement that most current architectures fail to meet. Existing systems often function as sequences, where each decision is independently constructed, leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies when dependencies arise. The illusion of a cohesive system is maintained at small scales, but as systems grow and dependencies multiply, the lack of a shared, persistent context becomes evident, causing increased costs and degraded performance. To truly realize the potential of the agent factory, organizations must focus on maintaining a structured, shared understanding of context across decisions, a condition that separates scalable systems from those that falter.