While the theoretical and experimental foundations of agent-based systems are becoming increasingly well understood, comparatively little effort has been devoted to understanding the pragmatics of (multi-)agent systems development -the everyday reality of carrying out an agent-based development project. As a result, agent system developers are needlessly repeating the same mistakes, with the result that, at best, resources are wasted -at worst, projects fail. This paper identifies the main

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... lls that await the agent system developer, and where possible, makes tentative recommendations for how these pitfalls can be avoided or rectified.