/01
Scope the workflow first
AI works best when the workflow is clear. Choose one user task, then ask what context the model needs.
- One workflow
- One success metric
- One failure path
Resource / Checklist
AI Integration Readiness Checklist
A practical readiness checklist for adding an AI feature to a SaaS product without producing a fragile demo.
/ Outcome
What you walk away with.
A scoped AI workflow with retrieval, evals, fallbacks, and a cost ceiling you can defend.
/ System
/02
Production controls
Plan controls before launch. Add evals, logging, fallbacks, and cost ceilings on day one.
- Eval set
- Trace logging
- Fallback states
- Per-user cost cap
/ Checklist
Run through the list.
- 01Pick one workflow worth automating
- 02Define what success and failure look like
- 03Build a small eval set from real examples
- 04Add citations or structured outputs where possible
- 05Set per-user and per-month cost caps
- 06Design the fallback state in the UI
/ FAQ
Questions founders ask.
Is OpenAI enough?
Often yes, with retrieval and a small eval set. Multi-model routing comes later.
Should we fine-tune?
Usually not at first. Retrieval and better prompts solve more than fine-tuning at the early stage.