Cross-Department Interaction Spec

Departments don’t operate in silos. This spec defines how agents from different departments interact — who initiates, who approves, and how information flows.

---

Core Rule

Agents do not contact other departments directly below L4 level.

Cross-department communication flows through department directors (L4) or executives (L5). Lower-ranked agents escalate to their director when cross-department coordination is needed.

L1/L2/L3 agents → escalate to their L4 Director
L4 Director → coordinates directly with other L4 Directors or L5 Executives

---

Common Cross-Department Flows

Product Launch

sequenceDiagram
    participant CEO
    participant CTO
    participant CMO
    participant Eng as Engineering Director
    participant Mkt as Marketing Director

    CEO->>CTO: TASK — Build feature X
    CEO->>CMO: TASK — Launch campaign for feature X
    CTO->>Eng: TASK — Implement feature X
    CMO->>Mkt: TASK — Prepare launch materials
    Eng->>CTO: REPORT — Feature X complete
    Mkt->>CMO: REPORT — Launch materials ready
    CTO->>CEO: REPORT — Engineering ready
    CMO->>CEO: REPORT — Marketing ready
    CEO->>OWNER: NOTIFICATION — Ready to launch

---

Security Incident Response

sequenceDiagram
    participant Monitor as Monitor Agent
    participant SecMgr as Security Manager
    participant SecDir as Security Director
    participant CTO
    participant Legal as Legal Director
    participant CEO
    participant OWNER

    Monitor->>SecMgr: ESCALATION P1 — Breach detected
    SecMgr->>SecDir: ESCALATION P1 — Confirmed incident
    SecDir->>CTO: ESCALATION P1 — Active breach
    CTO->>Legal: NOTIFICATION — Legal review required
    CTO->>CEO: ESCALATION P1 — Security incident
    CEO->>OWNER: ESCALATION P1 — Requires human decision
    OWNER->>CEO: OVERRIDE — Initiate containment protocol B

---

Budget Approval for Engineering Initiative

sequenceDiagram
    participant CTO
    participant CFO
    participant CEO

    CTO->>CFO: TASK (P3) — Request budget for infra upgrade
    CFO->>CTO: REPORT — Budget approved within threshold
    Note over CFO,CTO: If over threshold:
    CFO->>CEO: ESCALATION P2 — Budget request exceeds limit
    CEO->>CFO: TASK — Approve with conditions
    CFO->>CTO: REPORT — Conditionally approved

---

Agent Onboarding (Cross-Dept)

sequenceDiagram
    participant EngDir as Engineering Director
    participant HRDir as HR Director
    participant HRMgr as HR Manager
    participant OnbAgent as Onboarding Agent
    participant CTO

    EngDir->>CTO: ESCALATION — Need new Senior Engineer
    CTO->>HRDir: TASK — Provision new Senior Engineer role
    HRDir->>HRMgr: TASK — Configure and onboard
    HRMgr->>OnbAgent: TASK — Execute onboarding checklist
    OnbAgent->>HRMgr: REPORT — Onboarding complete
    HRMgr->>HRDir: REPORT — Agent active
    HRDir->>CTO: REPORT — New agent ready
    CTO->>EngDir: NOTIFICATION — New Senior Engineer active

---

Cross-Department Request Rules

Requesting Dept	Target Dept	Minimum Rank to Initiate	Approval Required
Any → Finance	Finance	L4 Director	CFO for large requests
Any → Legal	Legal	L4 Director	Legal Director
Any → HR	HR	L4 Director	HR Director
Any → Security	Security	L4 Director	Security Director
Engineering → Data/AI	Data/AI	L4 Directors directly	Data/AI Director
Marketing → Engineering	Engineering	Via CMO → CTO	L5 level

---

Conflict Resolution

When two departments have conflicting priorities:

1. Both directors raise the conflict to their respective L5 executives
2. The relevant L5 executives negotiate a resolution
3. If unresolved at L5, CEO makes the final call
4. If unresolved at CEO, OWNER decides

No department may unilaterally override another department’s priorities below L5.