Agent Design Philosophy Distilled from Truppenführung

Fifteen core principles for AI Agent and multi-agent system design, extracted from the 1933 German field manual Truppenführung^[1] and its Auftragstaktik (mission-type tactics) doctrine

I. The Essential Nature of an Agent

Par.1 — “The conduct of war is an art, depending upon free, creative activity, scientifically grounded.”

Insight: An agent should not be a pure rule engine. It should be a creative actor grounded in science. Rigid rule systems are insufficient — agents need freedom to improvise within a principled framework.

II. Uncertainty Is the Norm

Par.3 — “Situations in war are of unlimited variety. They change often and suddenly and only rarely are from the first discernible. Incalculable elements are often of great influence. The independent will of the enemy is pitted against ours. Friction and mistakes are of every day occurrence.”

Insight: Agents must be designed as systems that tolerate uncertainty and errors. The environment is adversarial and never fully predictable — never assume perfect information.

III. The Principle of Simplicity

Par.4 — “The principles so enunciated must be employed dependent upon the situation. Simplicity of conduct, logically carried through, will most surely attain the objective.”

Insight: Agent strategies should aim for simplicity and coherence. A simple plan consistently executed beats a complex but brittle one.

IV. Requirements for the Agent Leader (Orchestrator)

Par.6 — “Leaders of good judgment, clear thinking and far seeing, leaders with independence and decisive resolution, leaders with perseverance and energy, leaders not emotionally moved by the varying fortunes of war, leaders with a high sense of responsibility.”

Insight: An orchestrator agent needs: judgment, foresight, decisiveness, stability, and accountability. It should not constantly shift strategy based on fluctuations in intermediate results.

V. Balancing Autonomy and Obedience (Auftragstaktik)

Par.9 — “Willing and joyful acceptance of responsibility is the distinguishing characteristic of leadership… Independence of action should never be based upon contrariness. Independence of action, properly used, is often the basis of great success.”

Insight: Sub-agents should proactively take responsibility and act independently — but this independence is not arbitrary. It is autonomous judgment grounded in understanding the overall objective. This is the core philosophy of multi-agent architecture.

VI. Decisive Action over Waiting for Perfection

Par.15 — “The first demand in war is decisive action. Everyone must be aware that omissions and neglects incriminate him more severely than the mistake of choice of means.”

Par.36 — “Obscurity of the situation is the rule. To wait in tense situations for information, is seldom a token of strong leadership, often of weakness.”

Insight: Agents should bias toward action rather than waiting indefinitely for perfect information. Decisions must be made even with incomplete data. Omission is often more harmful than a wrong action.

VII. Mission Orientation with Flexible Adaptation

Par.36 — “The mission designates the objective to be attained. The leader must never forget his mission.”

Par.37 — “Should the mission no longer suffice as the fundamental of conduct or is it changed by events, the decision must take these considerations into account. He who changes his mission or does not execute the one given must report his actions at once and assumes all responsibility.”

Insight: Agents should stay anchored to their mission objective. But when the environment changes drastically and the original instructions no longer apply, they should be able to adapt autonomously and report back. This is better than blindly executing outdated instructions.

VIII. Firmness and Flexibility in Decisions

Par.37 — “Without very good reasons a decision once made should not be abandoned. However, in the vicissitudes of war an inflexible maintenance of the original decision may lead to great mistakes. Timely recognition of the conditions which call for a new decision is an attribute of the art of leadership.”

Insight: Agents should stick to their decisions and avoid flip-flopping, while maintaining meta-cognitive ability — recognizing when a genuine change in direction is needed.

IX. Concentration of Resources and Trade-offs

Par.28 — “We never have at our disposal all the desired forces for the decisive action. He who will be secure everywhere or who fixes forces in secondary tasks acts contrary to the fundamental.”

Insight: Agent resources (tokens, time, tool calls) are finite and must be concentrated on critical tasks. They cannot be evenly distributed. You must dare to be “insecure” in secondary areas.

X. The Value of Speed and Surprise

Par.28 — “The weaker force, through speed, mobility… surprise and deception, can be the stronger at the decisive area.”

Par.32 — “Surprise of the enemy is a decisive factor in a success.”

Insight: An agent doesn’t need to be the strongest in every dimension. Speed and timing can compensate for capability gaps. Reaching the right solution space first is more valuable than perfection delivered late.

XI. Principles for Designing Orders (Prompts)

Par.73 — “An order shall contain all that is necessary for the lower commander to know in order for him to execute independently his task. It should contain no more.”

Par.74 — “The language of orders must be simple and understandable. Clarity, which eliminates doubts, is more important than correct technique. Clarity must not be sacrificed for brevity.”

Par.76 — “If changes in the situation are to be expected… the order should not go into details. The general intention is expressed, the end to be achieved is especially stressed… the immediate conduct is left to subordinate commanders.”

Insight: This is the golden rule of prompt engineering. Prompts given to sub-agents should:

• Contain enough information for independent action
• Avoid over-specifying details
• In uncertain environments, convey intent and objectives, not specific steps
• Prioritize clarity over brevity

XII. Designing Information and Reports

Par.48 — “The reports and information of the enemy form one of the most important foundations for the estimate of the situation, the decision and its execution.”

Par.50 — “Information and reports must be discriminately evaluated. Any attempt to deduce what is desired by us or is most favorable to us, must be avoided.”

Par.53 — “The contents and reliability of reports, not their numbers, are the important matter. Reports must calmly depict the events. Exaggerated reports are detrimental, sometimes disastrous.”

Insight: An agent’s observation and feedback systems must resist confirmation bias and avoid selectively gathering information that supports its own decisions. Information quality matters more than quantity — avoid hallucination-style exaggerated reporting.

XIII. Reserves = Preserving Optionality

Par.47 — “The commander influences the reaction most strongly… through the employment of his reserves.”

Par.47 — “He must not let himself employ his reserve too early. Nevertheless he must not delay, if the employment of the reserve can bring about the decision.”

Insight: Agents should retain uncommitted capabilities and resources (remaining token budget, alternative tools) rather than committing everything upfront. But when the decisive moment arrives, commit fully and without hesitation.

XIV. Observer Position = Agent Attention

Par.109 — “The personal effect of the commander on the troops is of great importance. He must be near the fighting troops.”

Par.113 — “Should contact with the enemy be imminent, the division commander remains with the advanced guard. It is there the situation first breaks and there can he exert more quickly his influence.”

Insight: An orchestrator agent’s “attention” should be focused on the most critical execution node at any given time, not distributed evenly across all sub-tasks.

XV. Collaborative Trust Is the System Foundation

Par.8 — “Mutual trust is the surest basis of discipline in necessity and danger.”

Insight: In multi-agent systems, trust protocols between agents (reliable interface contracts, predictable behavior) are the foundation of system robustness — more important than any monitoring mechanism.

Summary: Ten Principles of Agent Design from Truppenführung

The Auftragstaktik (mission-type tactics) philosophy articulated in this 1933 German field manual — give subordinates clear objectives and intent, but leave the freedom of execution to them — is essentially the core idea behind modern multi-agent system design. Every sub-agent should understand why, not merely what, so it can make the right judgment autonomously when the environment changes.

^[1] The full English translation of Truppenführung (H.Dv.300/1, 1933) is available on Scribd.