02 / Start with your environment
Work with what
you already have.
Start with the systems your decisions depend on. Define the information to connect, the infrastructure to retain and the points where action requires explicit authority.
Connect the evidence.
Choose the records, documents and events required to answer one operational question. Define freshness and provenance before ingestion.
SQL · Warehouses · Documents · Object storage · Events · Streams · Files · Vector data · Telemetry · Reference data · Logs · Time series
Place the work deliberately.
Establish where transformations and evaluations may run. Capacity, latency and data movement are design decisions to validate.
Batch · Queries · Functions · Containers · Pipelines · Queues · Schedulers · CPU · GPU · Analytics · Transforms · Workers
Evaluate the model for the job.
Compare the task, permitted inputs, quality threshold and fallback. Evaluate model choices against those requirements.
Forecasts · Classifiers · Language models · Embeddings · Rules · Optimizers · Scoring · Anomaly models · Evaluations · Retrieval · Model endpoints · Human review
Meet the operation where it happens.
Identify where people plan, investigate and approve work. Any write-back needs a scoped interface and an acknowledgement.
ERP · CRM · Service desk · Maintenance · Planning · Inventory · Work orders · Dashboards · Internal tools · APIs · Notifications · Approvals
Set the deployment boundaries.
Review residency, networking, identity and operating ownership. Use these boundaries to evaluate a deployment design.
Cloud · Private network · Edge · On premises · Regions · Identity · Observability · Secrets · Storage · Networks · Recovery · Release process
Start with the interfaces, permissions and ownership required for your workflow.
03 / Understand the architecture
The whole story is in the connections.
Follow one late shipment from the first alert to a reviewed response.
01 / Existing systemsFirst, know what changed.
Shipment BG-247 is running six hours late. The carrier update is useful because its source, time and owner travel with it.
Observed: Arrival changed · ETA +6h · Source: Carrier status feed · 09:20 UTC
02 / Connected contextThen, see what it touches.
The shipment is connected to an order, limited stock, a receiving window and a customer promise. A stale schedule stays visible for review.
Connected: Order → stock → receiving → customer · Freshness: Receiving window is stale
03 / Accountable actionFinally, put a person in control.
A logistics coordinator compares feasible responses and approves one. The instruction needs an acknowledgement; the actual arrival becomes evidence for the next decision.
Authority: Logistics coordinator · Closed when: Action acknowledged · result observed
03B / From signal to action
One signal. The whole picture.
A delayed arrival is only the beginning. See how its consequences become visible, a person chooses a response, and the result comes back.
Signal / An inbound shipment slips.
A revised arrival time puts a scheduled delivery at risk. The alert is a starting point, not a recommendation.
Context / See what depends on it.
Connect the shipment to its order, receiving window and available stock. Flag any missing or outdated source before evaluating a response.
Intelligence / Compare the available responses.
In this scenario, holding the order or using another route are the options. Compare delivery commitments, capacity and cost; expose unknowns.
Decision / Put the choice with the operator.
Compare the evidence and constraints before selecting a response. A model suggestion does not authorize an operational change.
Action / Coordinate the approved response.
An approved instruction needs to reach its owner and receive an acknowledgement. Keep failed or incomplete requests visible for follow-up.
Feedback / Bring the result into the next review.
Compare the eventual delivery with the plan. Keep the decision and its outcome together; learning requires review, not an assumption that every action succeeded.
This is an illustrative workflow. No live instruction is sent.