Notes on shipping AI where it has to hold up
AI governance, the EU AI Act, DORA, and the product decisions underneath them. Written from inside the work, not from the compliance briefing.
Articles
New · live now
Article 50 went live. Here’s what it asks you to build.
The EU AI Act’s transparency rules applied on 2 August 2026 — and unlike the high-risk rules, they were not deferred. They reach almost every product with AI in it, whatever the risk tier.
Read the articleMore writing
What an AI use-case register actually looks like
What EU AI Act compliance looks like on a Tuesday afternoon, at the intake meeting, when someone wants to ship.
Build or buy: how I decide on an AI feature
An AI feature has layers. The useful question is which of them carry your judgment — those you can’t buy at any price.
DORA doesn’t care that it’s AI
A regulation that reaches your AI product before the EU AI Act does — and has no AI chapter at all.
“There’s a human in the loop” is usually a fig leaf
A reviewer approving a hundred decisions an hour isn’t oversight. The four conditions that make it real.
A design system is a product. Treat it like one.
Half of design systems sit on unstable foundations. Running one as a product is what changes that.
What I actually look for in an AI PM
Most job descriptions screen for tools. The hiring data says judgment matters more.
How I size an AI feature before anyone builds it
Only 14% of companies have defined the P&L impact of their AI work. Here is the arithmetic.
Discovery when the decision has already been made
Most discovery advice assumes research can still change the plan. In enterprise it often cannot.
Leading business analysts
Analysts are accountable for whether something is true. That changes how you lead them.
AI in enterprise service management
17% have deployed AI agents and 60% plan to. What works in service management, and what stalls.
Requirements that survive contact with delivery
What actually breaks between the document and the build, and what the 100x figure really says.
How do you know an AI feature works?
Evaluation is written about by engineers and eval vendors. The product half is the harder half.
Product management in regulated environments
Regulation changes where the decisions sit, not how fast you can move.
Hiring your first AI PM
Most companies hiring their first AI product manager do not need one yet.
Replacing a system people depend on
Legacy replacement fails for organisational reasons, not technical ones. What actually breaks.
Your vendor’s compliance is not yours
Buying an AI tool does not move the obligations, and it can make you the provider.
We were asked to cover two thousand templates
Coverage is easy to report and value is not, so teams optimise the thing that reports well.