Tutorial2 min read
From AI Pilot to Production: A 90-Day Plan
Most AI pilots never reach production. Not because the demo failed — because nobody planned the unglamorous middle. Here is the plan we run.
Hassan Kazi
Founder, TrueCodeAI
- Published
AI strategyAI agentsProcess
Days 1–30: prove it on real data
- Collect 100–300 real examples and agree what a correct outcome is for each.
- Build the eval suite before tuning anything.
- Iterate prompts, retrieval and tools until the target is met.
Gate: the system meets the agreed accuracy on the eval set, including cases it should refuse.
Days 31–60: make it real
- Integrate with production systems — read access first, then writes behind approvals.
- Add guardrails, logging, tracing and cost controls.
- Security review and data-protection check.
Gate: end-to-end tests pass in a staging environment with production-like data.
Days 61–90: supervised launch
- Launch to a slice of traffic with a human reviewing outputs.
- Grade real traces daily; turn failures into new eval cases.
- Widen traffic as measured quality holds.
- Hand over dashboards, runbooks and the eval suite to the owning team.
Gate: quality holds at full traffic for two weeks and the owning team can run it.
Frequently asked questions
Can it be faster than 90 days?
Simple assistants can go live in 3–5 weeks. Agents with write actions in regulated settings take the full 90.
What kills most pilots?
No eval set, no production owner, and integrations left until the end.
Who owns the system afterwards?
Your team, with our support if wanted. Handover is part of the plan, not an afterthought.
