Pilot to Production Playbook
~14 min read
Estimated time: ~14 min read — for the in-app brief plus opening the primary source.
What this is
Stages from problem framing through pilot, evaluation, integration, training, and scale — with gates and anti-patterns from common failures.
Stages from problem framing through pilot, evaluation, integration, training, and scale — with gates and anti-patterns from common failures.
- Frame the process pain and baseline metrics before vendor selection.
- Pilot with real users and messy data; define success and kill criteria up front.
- Budget integration, access control, and training as first-class work.
- Scale only with monitoring, support ownership, and change management.
Next action: Pilots that never industrialize waste money and breed cynicism. This playbook gives sponsors a shared path and language.
Deep dive
Frame the process pain and baseline metrics before vendor selection.
Pilot with real users and messy data; define success and kill criteria up front.
Budget integration, access control, and training as first-class work.
Scale only with monitoring, support ownership, and change management.
Anti-patterns: demo-led scope, no process owner, success = 'model looks cool.'