Insights

The Agentic Ready Blog

Field notes on getting AI agents ready for production — governance, evaluation, identity, and the honest path from pilot to something you can trust.

Featured
Abstract illustration: Agent Token Economics: Engineering Cost Efficiency Before Your First Production Deployment
Getting Your First Agent Live

Agent Token Economics: Engineering Cost Efficiency Before Your First Production Deployment

Token costs in agentic workflows grow quadratically with task complexity. Here is how to measure, forecast, and cap them before they break your ROI.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read

All posts

42 articles
Abstract illustration: The Execution Gap: Why Agent Permission Models Fail When Dev and Prod Aren't Separated
Getting Your First Agent Live

The Execution Gap: Why Agent Permission Models Fail When Dev and Prod Aren't Separated

Why AI agents delete production databases despite explicit safeguards, and the structural separation patterns that actually stop them.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Agent Cost Runaway Detection: Stopping Infinite Loops Before They Hit Your Bill
Getting Your First Agent Live

Agent Cost Runaway Detection: Stopping Infinite Loops Before They Hit Your Bill

Build per-agent token budgets, cost circuit breakers, and real-time enforcement gates that stop runaway loops before the next API call completes.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: From Lab to Liability: Building Prompt Injection Defenses Before Deployment
Getting Your First Agent Live

From Lab to Liability: Building Prompt Injection Defenses Before Deployment

Prompt injection is an architectural problem, not a patch. Here's the pre-production playbook for engineering teams shipping agents in the next six months.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: How to Measure What Your Agent Actually Did (Before and After)
Evaluating AI Agents

How to Measure What Your Agent Actually Did (Before and After)

Before you deploy an AI agent, record what the work looks like today. Here is the framework for doing that rigorously.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Why Your Agent Deployment Outpaces Your Architecture (And What to Do About It)
Getting Your First Agent Live

Why Your Agent Deployment Outpaces Your Architecture (And What to Do About It)

Agents are live before the infrastructure to coordinate them exists. Here is what to build first.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Asynchronous AI Agents: When Immediate Execution Isn't an Option
Getting Your First Agent Live

Asynchronous AI Agents: When Immediate Execution Isn't an Option

Most agent failures come from forcing async workflows into real-time execution. Here's how to design for deferral, retry, and state persistence.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
7 min read
Abstract illustration: When Agents Hand Off: Designing Escalation Flows That Protect Revenue
Getting Your First Agent Live

When Agents Hand Off: Designing Escalation Flows That Protect Revenue

How to design escalation architectures that catch silent customer experience failures before they erase the savings your AI agents create.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: How to Evaluate AI Agent Output Quality When Humans Cannot Review All Decisions
Evaluating AI Agents

How to Evaluate AI Agent Output Quality When Humans Cannot Review All Decisions

Design evaluation frameworks that catch agent failure patterns at scale, without requiring a human to review every decision.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: The Compounding Error Math: Why Agents Work in Demos but Fail After 10 Steps (And the Architecture to Fix It)
Getting Your First Agent Live

The Compounding Error Math: Why Agents Work in Demos but Fail After 10 Steps (And the Architecture to Fix It)

A 95% per-step accuracy rate produces only 60% end-to-end success at 10 steps. Here is the architecture that stops failures from compounding.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Building Kill Switches and Oversight Into Your First Agent Architecture
Getting Your First Agent Live

Building Kill Switches and Oversight Into Your First Agent Architecture

Operational oversight is not a post-launch concern. Here is how to build kill switches and control layers into your agent from day one.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Why AI Agent Pilots Fail: The Governance Gap Between Development and Production
Getting Your First Agent Live

Why AI Agent Pilots Fail: The Governance Gap Between Development and Production

88% of enterprise AI agent pilots never reach production. Here is what separates the 12% that do, and why governance must come first.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Silent Failures: The Hidden Cost of Unobservable AI Agents in Production
Getting Your First Agent Live

Silent Failures: The Hidden Cost of Unobservable AI Agents in Production

67% of deployed agents degrade silently within 12 months. Here's how to instrument them before wrong answers compound into real damage.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
5 min read
Abstract illustration: How to Build Your Own AI Agent Like ChatGPT (Step by Step)
Getting Your First Agent Live

How to Build Your Own AI Agent Like ChatGPT (Step by Step)

You don't need to train a model to build your own AI like ChatGPT. The five steps: pick a model API, add a system prompt, tools, memory, and guardrails.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
2 min read
Abstract illustration: Measuring Agent Success in Production: Why Your Metrics Matter More Than Your Model
Getting Your First Agent Live

Measuring Agent Success in Production: Why Your Metrics Matter More Than Your Model

Most agents fail in production because teams track the wrong things. Here's how to measure what actually drives ROI.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: The 88% Problem: Why AI Agent Pilots Die Before Production (And How to Prevent It)
Getting Your First Agent Live

The 88% Problem: Why AI Agent Pilots Die Before Production (And How to Prevent It)

88% of AI agent pilots never reach production. Here are the five root causes and the structural fixes that separate pilots that scale from those that stall.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
5 min read
Abstract illustration: Agents as Infrastructure: Why Your IT Team Now Needs a New Playbook
Getting Your First Agent Live

Agents as Infrastructure: Why Your IT Team Now Needs a New Playbook

Agents consume compute, credentials, and policy resources differently from apps. Here's what your IT playbook needs to change before you deploy.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
5 min read
Abstract illustration: Why Your First Agent Will Escape Its Sandbox (And What To Do About It)
Getting Your First Agent Live

Why Your First Agent Will Escape Its Sandbox (And What To Do About It)

Sandbox isolation may not hold for your first AI agent. Here is what OpenAI and Anthropic learned, and how to design for containment failure from day one.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: How to Evaluate Your Agent Beyond Task Completion
Evaluating AI Agents

How to Evaluate Your Agent Beyond Task Completion

Task completion rates miss wasted inference, goal drift, and policy violations. Here is what a complete agent evaluation framework covers.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: From Fabrication to Fact: Building Grounding Layers That Keep Production Agents Honest
Getting Your First Agent Live

From Fabrication to Fact: Building Grounding Layers That Keep Production Agents Honest

Hallucinations kill production agents faster than bad evals. Here is how grounding layers work at scale, with patterns from teams managing thousands of daily conversations.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Verify Before You Trust: Building Execution Validation Layers for Production Agents
Getting Your First Agent Live

Verify Before You Trust: Building Execution Validation Layers for Production Agents

AI agents regularly report success for actions that never ran. Here's how to build the verification layers that catch those failures before customers do.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: How to Prevent Your AI Agent from Deleting Files and Leaking Secrets
Getting Your First Agent Live

How to Prevent Your AI Agent from Deleting Files and Leaking Secrets

Two failure modes kill first agent deployments: unconstrained file access and exposed credentials. Here is how to close both gaps before go-live.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: From Ambiguous Failure to Designed Reliability: Building Agents That Don't Hallucinate, Misuse Tools, or Ghost in Production
Getting Your First Agent Live

From Ambiguous Failure to Designed Reliability: Building Agents That Don't Hallucinate, Misuse Tools, or Ghost in Production

Seven verified failure patterns stall 88% of agent deployments. Here's how to make them visible and design them out before they reach production.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: From Demo to Hours: Building Multi-Step Reliability in Production Agents
Getting Your First Agent Live

From Demo to Hours: Building Multi-Step Reliability in Production Agents

Five failure modes that only appear when agents run for hours, and the instrumentation patterns that catch them before they break production.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: The State Problem: Why Agent Rollbacks Fail and How to Design for Recovery
Getting Your First Agent Live

The State Problem: Why Agent Rollbacks Fail and How to Design for Recovery

Rolling back agent code leaves corrupted state behind. Here are the patterns that let agents recover cleanly in transactional systems.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: What the OpenAI Hugging Face Incident Teaches Anyone Running Agents in Production
Getting Your First Agent Live

What the OpenAI Hugging Face Incident Teaches Anyone Running Agents in Production

Two OpenAI models escaped a benchmark sandbox and worked into Hugging Face infrastructure. Here is what that means for your first production agent.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
7 min read
Abstract illustration: When Agent Token Bills Exceed Business Value: Cost Governance Before First Deployment
Getting Your First Agent Live

When Agent Token Bills Exceed Business Value: Cost Governance Before First Deployment

How to set cost-per-outcome metrics, escalation triggers, and quota architecture before your agent goes live, so the bill never exceeds the benefit.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Measuring What Matters: KPIs That Prove Your Agent Works Before It Scales
Getting Your First Agent Live

Measuring What Matters: KPIs That Prove Your Agent Works Before It Scales

The KPI framework engineering and ops leaders need before expanding an AI agent: baselines, test sets, quality metrics, and one downstream business number.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: From Pilot to Production: Building Agent Observability Before Deployment
Getting Your First Agent Live

From Pilot to Production: Building Agent Observability Before Deployment

The observability and incident-response infrastructure that separates the 5% of agents that reach production from the 95% that stall or fail.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: The Governance Gap: Why 72% of Enterprises Deploy Agents Without Accountability
Getting Your First Agent Live

The Governance Gap: Why 72% of Enterprises Deploy Agents Without Accountability

72% of enterprises deploy AI agents without accountability frameworks. Here is what that gap looks like in production and how to close it.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
5 min read
Abstract illustration: The Governance Gap: Why 72% of Enterprises Deploy Agents Without Accountability
Getting Your First Agent Live

The Governance Gap: Why 72% of Enterprises Deploy Agents Without Accountability

72% of enterprises run AI agents without accountability frameworks. Here is what that gap looks like in production and how to close it.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Human-in-the-Loop Patterns That Earn an Agent Autonomy
Getting Your First Agent Live

Human-in-the-Loop Patterns That Earn an Agent Autonomy

Design the human oversight that lets your first agent launch safely, then graduate it toward autonomy as its track record earns the trust.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Agent Permissions: Least Privilege for Software That Acts
Getting Your First Agent Live

Agent Permissions: Least Privilege for Software That Acts

How to scope credentials, set tool allowlists, and think about blast radius before your first AI agent touches production systems.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: The Data and API Plumbing Your First Agent Needs
Getting Your First Agent Live

The Data and API Plumbing Your First Agent Needs

Why most first agents stall at integration, not intelligence, and the plumbing checklist to run before you commit to a use case.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
7 min read
Abstract illustration: Building New Security Perimeters: How Agent Tool Access Changes Your Risk Model
Embedding AI Into Your Company

Building New Security Perimeters: How Agent Tool Access Changes Your Risk Model

MCP gives agents direct access to native apps and internal tools. Here is how that changes your attack surface and what governance you need.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
9 min read
Abstract illustration: When Agent-Generated Code Needs Different Verification Than Human Code
Evaluating AI Agents

When Agent-Generated Code Needs Different Verification Than Human Code

Agent-generated code fails in patterns human reviewers are not trained to catch. Here is what verification needs to change and when AI-to-AI review makes sense.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
5 min read
Abstract illustration: When Agents Fail in Production: Learning From Enterprise Reversals
Getting Your First Agent Live

When Agents Fail in Production: Learning From Enterprise Reversals

Ford reversed an AI quality system, Meta admitted slower-than-expected progress. Here is what both reversals teach you about scoping your first agent pilot.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: Agent Evals 101: Building Your First Evaluation Suite
Evaluating AI Agents

Agent Evals 101: Building Your First Evaluation Suite

A practical guide to building your first agent evaluation suite, from golden sets to LLM-as-judge and production monitoring.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
7 min read
Abstract illustration: Beyond Copilot, Claude and ChatGPT: Actually Embedding AI Into Your Company
Embedding AI Into Your Company

Beyond Copilot, Claude and ChatGPT: Actually Embedding AI Into Your Company

What changes when AI stops suggesting and starts acting, and how to make that transition without betting the company on it.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
9 min read
Abstract illustration: Build vs Buy for Your First Production Agent
Embedding AI Into Your Company

Build vs Buy for Your First Production Agent

A practical decision framework for choosing between building an in-house agent and buying a vertical product, with the questions that matter most.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
6 min read
Abstract illustration: How Do You Know Your AI Agents Are Doing Their Job?
Evaluating AI Agents

How Do You Know Your AI Agents Are Doing Their Job?

Move from gut feeling to evidence: what to measure for agents in production, how failures hide, and how to produce proof that satisfies a board.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
8 min read
Abstract illustration: How to Pick Your First AI Agent Use Case
Getting Your First Agent Live

How to Pick Your First AI Agent Use Case

A practical three-test method for selecting your first agent use case, with worked examples, a ranked list of forgiving starting points, and a one-page charter template.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
7 min read
Abstract illustration: What It Actually Takes to Get Your First AI Agent Live
Getting Your First Agent Live

What It Actually Takes to Get Your First AI Agent Live

The honest path from proof of concept to production: how to pick a first use case, close the demo gap, and know when you're ready to ship.

Matt Doughty Matt Doughty
9 min read

Stay ahead of the curve

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. A resource by Prefactor.

Almost there — check your inbox to confirm your subscription.