Reliable pipelines start with clear questions, simple stages, and visible health. Build for validation, lineage, and recovery so data turns into decisions without chaos.
Put safety first. Scope the AI, protect data, filter inputs and outputs, test with an evaluation harness, and keep humans in the loop. Ship faster without risking trust.
Stop guessing. Instrument key journeys, use cohorts, and rank work by impact and confidence. Product analytics should tell you what to build next and what to cut.
Use request driven for instant answers and event driven for background work and scale. Start hybrid, add outbox and status endpoints, and evolve without a risky rewrite.
