AI FDE · FIELD NOTES
AI FDE: from demonstration to operating capability.
AI Forward Deployed Engineering (AI FDE) connects business owners, professional users, data, models, systems and governance inside the real workflow. It is iterative because exceptions, decision rights and adoption barriers become visible only in daily operations.
What AI FDE means
An AI FDE engagement begins with a bounded business problem, maps how work is actually performed, builds and evaluates a controlled workflow, and iterates with the people responsible for the outcome. The objective is a usable operating capability—not a model demonstration or generic chatbot.
Current development focus
Franc is developing an AI product in internal law-firm testing. The current scope includes matter management, knowledge management, task coordination, client updates, time tracking and operational analytics. The work provides a practical environment for testing professional controls, adoption and measurable operating value.
Future users and delivery model
- Other law firms and in-house legal departments
- Tax, accounting, audit and other professional-service organizations
- Internal tools adapted to the organization’s workflow
- Advisory plus controlled implementation and deployment
Seven stages
- Executive discovery
- Workflow and data mapping
- Use-case prioritization
- Prototype and evaluation
- Deployment architecture and integration
- Governance, security and human controls
- Adoption, monitoring and continuous improvement
What a credible pilot needs
- A named business owner and bounded workflow
- Approved data, baseline and test set
- Human review and escalation
- Failure and stop criteria
- A decision date for production, redesign or termination
Column roadmap
- Workflow mapping and exception design
- Evaluation sets, human review and audit trails
- Knowledge systems and source traceability
- Integration, permissions and change management
- Adoption, operating metrics and lessons from controlled pilots
- Legal FDE and other professional-service use cases
Current boundary
The product remains under internal testing. This page introduces the development direction and field-learning agenda; it does not present a generally available software product or an autonomous professional-advice system. External work will be separately scoped when the relevant product, data, security and contracting arrangements are ready.