Define the consequence of being wrong
The same model behaviour can be acceptable for drafting an internal summary and unacceptable for approving a payment. Reliability begins with the decision around the output: who uses it, what evidence is visible, and what happens when confidence is low.
Build the control loop
A production workflow needs more than a successful demo. It needs traceable inputs, bounded tools, access controls, fallbacks, review points, and a way to compare changed behaviour over time.
- Representative evaluation cases
- Retrieval and source boundaries
- Human escalation paths
- Trace and feedback retention
- Cost and latency budgets
Measure the job, not the spectacle
Model benchmarks rarely describe whether a workflow improved. Measure the operational job: corrections required, unresolved cases, review time, failure categories, and whether users can recognise uncertainty before acting on it.