makeyourAI.work https://makeyourai.work/blog Editorial feed for the makeyourAI.work public academy. AI Roadmaps Need Kill Criteria, Not Just Launch Dates https://makeyourai.work/blog/ai-roadmaps-need-kill-criteria A roadmap without kill criteria assumes every AI feature deserves to survive. That is how weak ideas consume months of engineering time. Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/ai-roadmaps-need-kill-criteria Retrieval Trust Boundaries Matter More Than Vector Search Hype https://makeyourai.work/blog/retrieval-trust-boundaries The hard part of retrieval is not only finding text. It is deciding which text deserves to influence the answer and under what conditions. Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/retrieval-trust-boundaries MCP Is Not the Product, Operating Rules Around It Are https://makeyourai.work/blog/mcp-needs-operating-rules Protocols create possibility. Products are created by boundaries, permissions, evaluation, and task design. Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/mcp-needs-operating-rules Structured Output Is Product Design, Not Prompt Decoration https://makeyourai.work/blog/structured-output-is-product-design The moment another system needs to consume model output, structure stops being optional. It becomes part of the product contract. Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/structured-output-is-product-design A One-Model MVP Is Usually Better Than a Clever Multi-Agent Demo https://makeyourai.work/blog/one-model-mvp The first production question is not how many agents you can orchestrate. It is whether one model can solve one valuable problem reliably enough to matter. Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/one-model-mvp Human Review Loops Are a Scaling Mechanism, Not a Temporary Crutch https://makeyourai.work/blog/human-review-loops-for-ai-workflows Human review does not mean the AI system failed. It often means the team understands where automation should stop. Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/human-review-loops-for-ai-workflows Tool Use Without Auth Boundaries Is Just Prompted Overreach https://makeyourai.work/blog/auth-secrets-and-tool-permissions The model should not be trusted simply because the prompt says to behave. Permissions belong to systems, not to wishes. Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/auth-secrets-and-tool-permissions If You Cannot Trace an LLM Failure, You Do Not Really Have a Product https://makeyourai.work/blog/tracing-llm-failures When an LLM feature fails and no one can reconstruct what happened, the product is operating on vibes instead of evidence. Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/tracing-llm-failures Fine-Tuning Is Usually the Wrong Answer Before You Fix Your Interface https://makeyourai.work/blog/when-not-to-fine-tune Fine-tuning can be powerful, but it often gets blamed for problems that actually belong to prompt design, retrieval quality, or product constraints. Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/when-not-to-fine-tune AI Product Specs Need Failure Modes, Not Just User Stories https://makeyourai.work/blog/ai-specs-that-reduce-rework A user story tells you what the person wants. An AI product spec must also describe how the system behaves when probability does not cooperate. Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/ai-specs-that-reduce-rework Model Routing Only Helps When the Product Contract Is Stable https://makeyourai.work/blog/model-routing-for-real-products Routing between models is useful only after you know what the task is, how quality is measured, and where the real variance comes from. Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/model-routing-for-real-products Context Windows Are a Budget, Not a License to Dump Everything In https://makeyourai.work/blog/context-window-budgeting A larger context window does not make irrelevant information harmless. It just makes expensive confusion easier to hide. Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/context-window-budgeting Build Evals Before You Build Agents https://makeyourai.work/blog/evals-before-agents An agent without evals is not a system with autonomy. It is a system with excuses. Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/evals-before-agents AI Features Fail When Nobody Writes Acceptance Criteria for Model Behavior https://makeyourai.work/blog/ai-feature-acceptance-criteria If your AI feature has no acceptance criteria, you are not shipping software. You are releasing a probability distribution and hoping the user forgives you. Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/ai-feature-acceptance-criteria AI Engineer Learning Paths Are Broken Without Product Pressure https://makeyourai.work/blog/ai-engineer-learning-paths The fastest way to waste months learning AI is to study abstractions without having to ship anything that can break. Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/ai-engineer-learning-paths Prompting as Interface Design, Not Magic Text https://makeyourai.work/blog/prompting-as-interface-design Prompting gets better the moment you stop treating it like clever phrasing and start treating it like interface design. Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/prompting-as-interface-design When RAG Is the Wrong Answer https://makeyourai.work/blog/when-rag-is-the-wrong-answer Many teams reach for RAG because it sounds like the modern answer, not because retrieval is actually the cleanest way to solve the product problem. Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/when-rag-is-the-wrong-answer What MCP Is in Practice, Not Just in Demos https://makeyourai.work/blog/what-mcp-is-in-practice MCP matters because it turns ad hoc tool wiring into a clearer contract, but the protocol only helps if your surrounding system is disciplined. Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://makeyourai.work/blog/what-mcp-is-in-practice