Forward deployed engineers bridge the gap between software platforms and customer reality. The role fails catastrophically when filled by people without genuine coding skills.
Most AI strategies are elaborate 50-slide performances designed to impress investors and boards, while the boring operational work that creates actual business value gets completely ignored. The uncomfortable reality is this: genuine success happens in operations, not in innovation theater.
Most vendor comparisons obsess over model capabilities while ignoring what actually determines success: whether they will pick up the phone when your implementation breaks at 3am. With 95% of AI pilots failing and over half of executives dissatisfied with vendor support, choosing the right partner matters more than choosing the best model.
Traditional maturity frameworks push companies through expensive levels that rarely predict success. After watching dozens of implementations, here is the contextual approach that actually matters.
Most AI pilots spend months proving technology works instead of proving value exists. This lean pilot program methodology uses 2-week sprints to test whether AI solves real problems people actually have. Success means proving value in 6 weeks, not technical capability in 6 months.
ChatGPT Enterprise promises transformation but delivers complexity. From Custom GPT maintenance nightmares to quality variance, here is the implementation reality after watching companies deploy, struggle, and sometimes abandon the platform.
Everyone obsesses over the technology. But after watching dozens of implementations crash and burn, the pattern is clear - AI projects fail when organizations forget they are asking humans to change how they work, not machines to compute faster.