3.2 Building Your First Department

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Learning Objective

Build your first complete department structure - including config, agents, skills, and workflows - by picking your highest-impact area and setting it up using the department template and Claude Code.

Pick Your Highest-Impact Department

Look at your process map from Part 2. Which area of your business has the most repetitive, time-consuming tasks? That is your first department.

Common first departments are marketing, outreach, content, or operations. Do not overthink this. You will build more departments later. Pick one and commit.

The Department Structure

Every department follows the same folder format. This consistency is what makes the system scalable. Once you learn the structure for one department, every future department works the same way.

Here is what goes inside a department folder:

config.md sits at the root of the department. It defines the department's purpose, who owns it, what goals it is working toward, and where it gets its data.

agents/ is a folder containing agent files. Each agent is a specialized worker with a clear role and decision-making logic. Think of agents as team members with specific job descriptions.

skills/ is a folder containing skill subfolders. Each skill is a specific task that an agent can perform. Every skill lives in its own folder with a SKILL.md file inside.

workflows/ is a folder containing workflow files. Each workflow chains multiple skills together into a complete pipeline, like an assembly line.

Setting Up with Claude Code

Start by copying the department template into your workspace. Then open Claude Code and tell it something like: "Help me build a marketing department based on my process map."

Walk through each component step by step. Do not try to build everything at once. Start with the config, then list your agents, then outline your skills.

Writing Your config.md

Your config file answers four questions.

Purpose is what this department does, in one sentence. Keep it simple and specific. "Generates qualified leads through outbound outreach and cold email campaigns" is much better than "handles marketing stuff."

Owner is who reviews and approves the department's output. For now, that is you. Later you might delegate this to a team member.

Goals are what you are trying to achieve, with specific and measurable targets. "Book 10 qualified sales calls per week" is a goal. "Do more marketing" is not.

Data sources are where this department gets its information. This might be your CRM, analytics tools, specific files, or folders on your computer. Be explicit about file paths and tools.

Defining Your Agents

Agents are specialized workers. Each one has a clear role within the department.

For example, a marketing department might have a "content strategist" agent that plans content and a "copywriter" agent that writes it. An outreach department might have a "lead researcher" agent and a "message writer" agent.

Each agent needs a role description, a list of tools it can use, decision logic for how it handles different situations, and escalation rules for when it should stop and ask you for input.

The key principle is that agents wrap existing tools. They do not replace them. An agent adds decision-making and coordination on top of tools you already use. It is the intelligence layer, not the tool itself.

Listing Your Skills and Workflows

For skills, do not write full SKILL.md files yet. Just list what skills each agent needs. For example, your content strategist might need "topic research" and "content calendar" skills. You will write these properly in Lesson 3.3.

For workflows, think about the end-to-end processes in your department. What is the full pipeline from start to finish? For example: research topics, write drafts, review, schedule, publish. You will build these in detail in Lesson 3.5.

Your Structure Should Match Your Business

The framework is always the same - config, agents, skills, workflows. But the content inside is unique to your business. Your marketing department will look different from someone running a consulting firm, and that is exactly how it should be.

The structure gives you consistency. The content gives you specificity.

Action Items

• Pick your highest-impact department from your process map
• Copy the department template into your workspace
• Use Claude Code to build your config.md with purpose, owner, goals, and data sources
• List the agents your department needs with their names and roles (do not write full agent files yet)
• List the skills each agent will need (you will write these properly in Lesson 3.3)
• Share your department structure in the community for feedback