Insights
Notes from the work
Written from real engagements. Specific enough to disagree with.
- Engagement
- Data foundations
- AI systems
- Buying
- Evaluation
Aug 5, 2026
Engagement
2 min read
What the first two weeks of an engagement actually look like
No deck, no workshop, no 'alignment'. Five days of shadowing, a data profile, and a written recommendation you can decline — that is the shape of it.
Jul 30, 2026
Data foundations
2 min read
An answer is only as good as the lineage behind it
Before you wire a language model to your data, ask whether a number on your dashboard can be traced to the row that produced it. If it cannot, neither can your citations.
Jul 22, 2026
AI systems
2 min read
Most failed AI pilots are data failures with better branding
Six pilots that stalled, and what was actually wrong in each. In five of them the model was fine.
Jul 15, 2026
Buying
2 min read
What to ask an AI vendor before you sign
Five questions that separate a systems shop from a slidedeck. Ask them in the first meeting and most of the vendor scorecard fills itself in.
Jun 18, 2026
Evaluation
2 min read
Write the evaluation set before you write the prompt
Forty graded cases, drawn from real inputs, cost about a day. Skipping them costs about six weeks.