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When you have to push back against “just ship it” on agents

r/aiagents
8/15/2025

Content Summary

The post discusses the frustration of pushing back against the 'just ship it' mentality when developing AI agents. The author worked on an AI research assistant for a fintech client, where the initial plan was to release the agent without formal evaluations. However, after a dry run, they found the agent was pulling in irrelevant policy papers. They implemented a verification system using Maestro to detect such issues mid-run, even though it slowed down the initial delivery. The author emphasizes the importance of structured evaluations to prevent silent failures and highlights the need to educate leadership on the risks of skipping this step.

Opinion Analysis

Mainstream opinion is that structured evaluations are essential in AI agent development to prevent errors and ensure reliability. Many commenters agree that leadership often prioritizes speed over quality, leading to subpar products. Some argue that while evaluations are important, they should not slow down development too much. Others highlight the difficulty in convincing leadership of the necessity of these steps. A few suggest that the issue is more about communication and demonstration of problems rather than the evaluation itself. There's a general consensus that the focus should be on building trustworthy AI systems, even if it requires more time upfront.

SAAS TOOLS

SaaSURLCategoryFeatures/Notes
Maestro[Not provided]AI Evaluation ToolUsed for verification during agent development to catch issues mid-run

USER NEEDS

Pain Points:

  • Lack of structured evaluation during AI agent development leading to silent failures
  • Pressure from leadership to prioritize speed over quality
  • Difficulty in convincing stakeholders about the importance of evaluations

Problems to Solve:

  • Ensuring AI agents stay on task and avoid drifting off-topic
  • Improving trust in AI outputs through validation
  • Balancing speed with accuracy and reliability

Potential Solutions:

  • Implementing structured evaluations during development
  • Using tools like Maestro to verify agent behavior mid-run
  • Educating leadership on the risks of skipping evaluation phases

GROWTH FACTORS

Effective Strategies:

  • Prioritizing quality over speed in product development
  • Demonstrating tangible issues through dry runs to convince stakeholders
  • Building verification mechanisms into the core development process

Marketing & Acquisition:

  • Not directly mentioned, but emphasis on demonstrating value through real-world testing could be a growth tactic

Monetization & Product:

  • Emphasis on building reliable, accurate AI agents that can be trusted by clients
  • Highlighting the importance of product-market fit by ensuring the solution addresses real pain points

User Engagement:

  • Engaging stakeholders through demonstrations and data-driven arguments
  • Building trust through transparency and validation processes