Practical guides on taking AI
from pilot to production
Articles from tkxel engineers on forward deployed engineering, agent evaluation, governance, and the decisions that decide whether AI reaches real users.
Book discovery callWhat is forward deployed engineering? A practical guide to the FDE model
What is forward deployed engineering? Learn what an FDE does, where the role came from, how it differs from consulting and SWE, and when to use an FDE pod.
Read moreGuideFDE vs staff augmentation vs consulting: which delivery model fits your project
FDE vs staff augmentation vs consulting: compare accountability, pricing, team size, knowledge transfer and failure modes to pick the right delivery model.
Read moreGuideFDE engagement models: how to work with tkxel
Compare tkxel’s FDE engagement models: fixed-price assessment, pilot, FDE pod, managed AI operations, training and embedded engineers, with pricing basis.
Read moreStrategy, Agents · 8 October 2026Build vs buy AI agents: platforms, custom builds or a partner
Build vs buy AI agents: when an off-the-shelf platform fits, when a custom build pays off, where a partner helps, and the criteria to decide for each use case.
Read moreStrategy, Data · 8 October 2026AI readiness checklist: strategy, data, people, governance and infrastructure
An AI readiness checklist across strategy, data, people, governance and infrastructure, with pass or fail checks to run before you fund your next AI project.
Read moreAgents, Integration · 1 October 2026Model context protocol for enterprises: what leaders need to know
Model Context Protocol for enterprises: what MCP is, how servers and clients work, the security risks, governance controls to put in place, and when to use it.
Read moreGovernance, Agents · 1 October 2026AI agent guardrails: how to run agents safely in production
AI agent guardrails for production: input and output validation, scoped tool permissions, policy checks in code, monitoring and kill switches that hold up.
Read moreAgents · 24 September 2026How to evaluate AI agents: from golden datasets to production monitoring
How to evaluate AI agents: build a golden dataset, use LLM-as-judge with care, gate releases with regression tests in CI, add human review, monitor production.
Read moreGovernance · 24 September 2026Prompt injection explained: what business and security leaders need to know
Prompt injection explained for business and security leaders: direct and indirect attacks, why OWASP ranks it first for LLM apps, and layered mitigations.
Read moreAgents, Governance · 17 September 2026Human-in-the-loop AI agents: autonomy levels, review queues and escalation
Human-in-the-loop design for AI agents: choosing autonomy levels per action, building review queues people actually read, and escalation paths that hold up.
Read moreAgents, Strategy · 17 September 2026Why AI pilots fail to reach production, and how to get yours over the line
Why AI pilots fail to reach production: no success metric, curated data, no owner, skipped integration and monitoring, plus a practical path to a live system.
Read moreFDE · 10 September 2026Forward deployed engineering cost: salaries, pricing models and trade-offs
What forward deployed engineering costs: cited FDE salary data, the hidden costs of hiring in-house, and how partner pricing models compare.
Read moreData, Agents · 10 September 2026RAG vs fine-tuning: when to use each for enterprise AI
RAG vs fine-tuning for enterprise AI: when each fits, how costs differ, what data you need, and why most teams should start with retrieval before training.
Read moreFDE · 3 September 2026FDE team structure: how to build a forward deployed engineering pod
How to structure a forward deployed engineering team: the roles in a pod, sensible ratios, weekly rituals and a handover plan your own engineers can run.
Read moreFDE · 3 September 2026How to hire forward deployed engineers without wasting a quarter
How to hire forward deployed engineers: in-house versus partner pods, the skills that matter, interview signals to test for, and the mistakes that cost months.
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