Field notes on industrializing agents in regulated work.

Oct 2026

Observability is the product: why agents without traces don't survive a compliance review

A reviewer picks a denial from March and asks why. The model has changed twice since. What the answer has to come from, why a model's explanation of itself doesn't count, and what a trace can't show.

Sep 2026

Feature 100 < feature 1: the economics of a growing agent shelf

The model gets cheaper for everyone. The work around it gets cheaper only if the first build leaves it behind in a form the next build can use.

Aug 2026

Your pilot didn't stall because of the model. It stalled because nothing was designed to be reused.

A pilot measures whether a model can do a task once. Production needs it done thousands of times, under audit. When the pilot leaves nothing behind, the production estimate becomes a second project.