Why process maps don't tell you what to delegate to an AI agent?

I've used operational process mapping for most of my 20-year career in supply chain management, and I still do so myself or through the teams I lead. The turning point I've faced in the past few years is that I started to believe that no process flow diagram reveals what's really important. That mindset shift happened while I used the same diagrams and mappings to decide which tasks to delegate to an AI agent. All candidates we selected operated correctly until they faced a moment requiring a human decision, triggering conditions when various AI elements stopped delivering the anticipated benefits under the initial plan.

The process flow map rarely captures where the decision points are or how those decisions are made, or what inputs drive them. It doesn't show where work would be delayed awaiting a decision, or which decisions are likely to fail later.

As a result, my mental models are being challenged and shifting from the question "to what extent is the company prepared for agentic AI?" to a broader discussion of "to what extent is this single decision prepared for agentic AI?"

Before I proceed, I want to be transparent that some key aspects of the content that follows will be supported by empirical evidence grounded in the work and toolkits developed by the best thinkers of the past and modern practitioners, which I find relevant and apply in my work (e.g., Lean Six Sigma and the rest). At the same time, this essay represents several hypotheses I'm still testing against my organisation and operations. So, I will try to continuously make changes and updates as things evolve.

To be continued.