50 Workflows Later: What I Actually Learned About AI
After building 50+ production AI workflows without a dev background, here are the patterns that work.
Apr 11, 2026
Validate everything
The single most important pattern: every AI output needs checking before it reaches a human or triggers a downstream action. The cost of adding a validation step is tiny compared to bad output reaching production.
Keep the tool stack small
My best workflows use 3-5 tools. My worst used 10+. Every additional tool is a potential failure point, an API to monitor, and a credential to manage.
Design for the ugly case
AI demos use clean data. Production data is messy. Build around the worst input you have ever seen.
The meta-lesson
You do not need to be a developer. You need to think like a systems designer: inputs, outputs, validation, error handling.
