Stage 2 / Controlled Pilot
A Controlled Pilot turns an evidence-backed workflow design into working software. It uses representative cases and a bounded number of real integrations to test whether the workflow delivers enough value, whether review is practical and whether failures can be detected and recovered. It is not an open-ended production build.
The buyer problem
A prototype can produce a convincing output without proving the complete operating path. It may not use real permissions, handle duplicate actions, expose uncertainty, preserve traceability or support a reviewer. The pilot tests those conditions before production hardening is considered.
Prerequisites
A pilot needs:
The State Method Diagnostic is a common route to these inputs, but equivalent prior evidence can be reviewed.
Typical scope
A pilot may include one bounded workflow, one or a small number of real integrations, a sandbox or staging environment, model and deterministic processing, defined tool permissions, a review step, evaluation cases, trace logs, timeout and retry behavior, failure routing, recovery behavior and basic operating documentation.
Scope is agreed around the assumptions the pilot must test. Additional workflows and integrations are separate.
The pilot should use enough of the real operating path to expose integration and authority issues. That may mean a real API with restricted credentials, a staging data store or an internal review interface. Access is limited to the actions required by the pilot. Production authority is not implied.
Representative cases are defined before the pilot conclusion. The evaluation should include normal cases, ambiguous inputs, known-bad inputs, edge cases and relevant permission or recovery scenarios. Results are compared with the manual baseline and agreed thresholds. Model quality is assessed inside the complete workflow, including abstention and review effort.
The permission design names what the model may propose, which checks software must enforce, which tools the workflow may access and what a person must approve. Approval records the responsible person and the exact action being accepted, rejected or corrected.
The pilot tests the failures that matter to the workflow: invalid inputs, unavailable tools, timeouts, duplicate requests, rejected approvals, uncertain output and interrupted processing. Each relevant case needs an observable signal and a defined outcome such as safe retry, manual handling or stop.
Deliverables
Depending on the agreed scope:
Pilot acceptance criteria
Criteria are defined before the decision and may cover:
Acceptance demonstrates only the agreed pilot scope. It does not guarantee performance on unseen conditions or production readiness.
Qualification boundary
Go, change or stop
The final review compares results with the predeclared acceptance criteria. The decision can be to scope production hardening, change and retest part of the workflow, gather better evidence, retain manual handling or stop. A technically working pilot is not enough if the operational value or review burden is unacceptable.
FAQ
Yes. The prototype, evaluation data, permission model and operating evidence are reviewed first. Reusable work is retained where it supports the pilot boundary.
No standard duration is stated. Timing depends on integrations, evaluation cases, approval flow and the assumptions being tested. It is defined in the pilot scope.
Not by default. The proposal defines the approved data and environment. Representative, sanitized or staged data may be sufficient. Production access requires a separate, explicit boundary.
Only actions explicitly permitted by the pilot design may run without a person. Consequential actions keep the required approval gate. All tested action authority remains bounded.
Passing supports a production-scoping decision for the proven boundary. It does not automatically authorize deployment.
Continue with the evidence
Controlled Pilot / evidence in use
If the workflow already has a boundary, baseline and representative cases, share the evidence available and the decision the pilot must support.