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TradecraftEvaluation

Looking past the demo

6 min read

Most AI demonstrations are built to impress in three minutes. Here is how I pressure test them for the work that actually matters.


A good demonstration removes friction so you can see the idea. A good deployment adds friction back, because the real world is full of edge cases, governance and people.

Start with the failure modes

Before I am impressed by what a system does well, I ask what it does badly, and how often.