Decision frameworks

Make the workload decision explicit.

Six living resources for deciding where AI should run, how an agent’s operating boundary can expand, and what an acceptable completed workflow costs.

Governed Production

Move from a convincing demonstration to an operating boundary supported by evaluation, controls, observation, and recovery.

Agent readiness

Agent Production-Readiness Checklist

Test whether an agent is ready for a stated operating boundary across evaluations, permissions, observation, human oversight, and recovery.

Open framework

Inference Economics

Connect serving mechanisms and prices to quality, labor, delay, exceptions, and cost per acceptable outcome.

Cost per workflow

Cost per Completed Workflow Template

Replace token-price comparisons with a transparent unit that includes quality, retries, review, exceptions, infrastructure, and operating work.

Open framework

Inference glossary

Executive Inference Glossary

Translate inference mechanisms into the workload, capacity, quality, and cost questions they can actually change.

Open framework

Private, Hybrid & Edge

Place components according to verified data, control, capability, latency, continuity, and operating requirements.

Build vs. buy

Private AI Build-vs-Buy Framework

Compare public APIs, managed private services, self-hosting, and hybrid designs using one workload and one explicit operating boundary.

Open framework

Residency & sovereignty

Residency & Sovereignty Checklist

Translate legal, contractual, operational, and technological control requirements into workload-placement questions.

Open framework

Hybrid architecture

Hybrid AI Reference Architecture

Decompose a workload into local, private-core, and managed-service responsibilities instead of forcing one deployment model onto the entire system.

Open framework

Research publication · 2026 edition

The 2026 LLM System Decision Manual

A dated CEO decision framework that indexes a bounded set of API, local, and seat candidates, shows how to evaluate hybrid routes, and defines the company evidence required before a signed shortlist—not a ranking or forecast.

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Candidate set: Bounded
Company proof: Required
Public winner: None

Need a bounded review?

Bring one workload and the decision that is still unresolved.

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