Chapter 18
A pilot can be technically good and operationally abandoned
Updated
The sponsor likes the demo, but operators return to spreadsheets after launch.
Inspect
Observe the real task, handoffs, exception handling, and review burden. Identify the operator’s incentives, training gaps, and who owns policy or data changes.
Decide
Expand after evidence of successful repeat use in an eligible cohort, with a named operator and support path. Revisit the workflow if the system creates hidden work elsewhere.
Bring to a review
A cohort table from eligible users → first successful task → repeat success, alongside support load and reasons for abandonment.
Common trap: A signed-off demo, a login, and a successfully completed task are different events.
Read
- Flawless Consulting · 4th edition BookContracting, influence, and helping others use your expertise.Focus: Read for contracting, mutual expectations, resistance, and ownership of implementation. Apply: Create an engagement agreement: sponsor access, user access, decisions, responsibilities, and exit conditions.
- Inventing the future of applied AI: Inside Sierra University A real training program organized around designing, building, and deploying agents.Focus: Look at how training is organized around designing, building, and deploying agents. Apply: Create a role-specific onboarding plan and test whether an operator can diagnose and escalate a failure unaided.
- How Sonos elevates the listener experience with Sierra Customer effort and time-to-music connect support engineering to the user’s goal.