Problems
Pilots don't fail late. They fail early, quietly.
Twelve failures repeat across engagements, and none of them is model capability or team capability. Each is owned by a component of the platform — because a problem nobody owns is a problem that recurs.
Before the build
the reality is never capturedP1
Nobody has written the process down accurately
Process discoveryP2
The data is fragmented and uneven
Semantic layerP5
Automation without decision rights changes nothing
Process designP8
Adoption starts at discovery, not at launch
PlatformDuring the build
the design lets the failure throughP3
The harness becomes the solution
Platform · PrecordP4
Non-determinism compounds down the pipeline
Design · governanceP6
Compliance bolted on at the end
Integration specsP7
Human gates placed by accident
Process designP9
Invisible scope, invisible ROI
Precord · simulatorAfter go-live
the win erodesP10
The engineer leaves; the lock-in stays
PrecordP11
The process drifts after go-live
PrecordP12
Cost, latency and privacy erode the win
Private SLMbefore the buildduring the buildafter go-live
They compound in one direction.
P1
Wrong process
The graph never matched reality.
P5 · P7
Wrong design
Decisions and gates inherit the error.
P4
Wrong output
Nothing catches it — no eval was written for it.
P10 · P11
Nothing to fix it with
No record, so the next team starts over.
Fig 1 — Solved in order, the chain breaks at the first link.