Boundaries
Define what the system may do and when a person must decide.
Field note
And that’s when everything broke
The model worked. The demo worked. Then the workflow met real data, permissions, exceptions, and accountability.
The lesson
Production failure is usually a systems problem
A useful model is only one participant in a workflow. Production systems also need ownership, bounded access, retries, exception handling, evidence, review, and a way to understand cost and quality.
What to design
Treat the workflow as the product
Evidence
Keep source context and action history beside the output.
Recovery
Assume tools, data, models, and handoffs will sometimes fail.
Measurement
Track outcomes rather than celebrating task completion.
Start a conversation
Bring us the workflow that matters.
We’ll help determine whether AI belongs in it and what responsible implementation requires.
Talk to Symplii