FIELD NOTE / LINKEDIN
Procurement hears protocol. Engineers hear tools.
The short film, the complete written thought, and the evidence behind it.
The LinkedIn conversation link will follow its public release.
Procurement hears protocol. Engineers hear tools.
Video caption
Procurement hears protocol. Engineers hear tools.
Point them at hosts and policy, not schema alone.
A connected tool is not a finished workflow.
My rule: Keep the language honest.
Narration uses Eric's authorized AI voice clone.
#EricFieldNotes
Full written post / accessibility read
When a vendor says agent protocol, ask whether they mean tool exposure, job control, or isolation. MCP may be excellent at tools and still leave cancel, collect, and substrate to you.
A tools schema helps discovery. Permission still lives where the host and gateway enforce it. Budget review time for those controls, not only for connector catalogs.
Leaders should ask how a product starts work, streams progress, cancels, and retrieves files. Those questions do not get answered by a tools catalog. They need a job surface.
I use tools plane in executive notes so nobody mistakes a connector review for a full agent platform review. Clear language is cheaper than a confused incident later.
Narration uses Eric's authorized AI voice clone.
#EricFieldNotes
Four-beat scene transcript
1. Procurement hears protocol. Engineers hear tools.
When a vendor says agent protocol, ask whether they mean tool exposure, job control, or isolation. MCP may be excellent at tools and still leave cancel, collect, and substrate to you.
Visual: Translate before you buy.
2. Security wants an allow list.
A tools schema helps discovery. Permission still lives where the host and gateway enforce it. Budget review time for those controls, not only for connector catalogs.
Visual: Point them at hosts and policy, not schema alone.
3. Product still owns outcomes.
Leaders should ask how a product starts work, streams progress, cancels, and retrieves files. Those questions do not get answered by a tools catalog. They need a job surface.
Visual: A connected tool is not a finished workflow.
4. Keep the language honest.
I use tools plane in executive notes so nobody mistakes a connector review for a full agent platform review. Clear language is cheaper than a confused incident later.
Visual: Call MCP the tools plane in executive notes.