Realistic Timelines for an AI Application
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What the weeks are spent on
| Phase | Duration | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping and evaluation set | 2–3 weeks | Narrowing, and agreeing correct answers on real cases |
| Core build | 4–8 weeks | Intake, retrieval, model, validation, integration |
| Review interface | 2–3 weeks | Frequently underestimated, determines adoption |
| Shadow running | 2–4 weeks | Producing output nobody acts on, compared against humans |
| Launch and tuning | 2–4 weeks | Threshold tuning with real traffic |
The evaluation set is on the critical path
Agreeing correct answers for a few hundred real cases requires a domain expert's time, and it is the single most common cause of delay in AI projects. Book that time before the project starts.
It also frequently produces the most valuable finding: that your own experts disagree on 20% of cases, which caps what any system can achieve.
What actually causes delay
- Real data arriving late, so testing happens on invented examples
- Nobody available to say what correct means
- The review interface not in the original scope, discovered at week eight
- Third-party access — API keys and permissions from someone else's IT team
- Scope drifting from one document type to four during the build
How to compress safely
Cut scope, never evaluation. One document type instead of three. One team instead of the whole business. Suggestions instead of automatic actions.
Also: start shadow running before the interface is polished. Real output compared against humans is worth more than a finished screen.
What you can do to make it faster
Provide real data in week one, including the awkward cases. Book your domain expert for the evaluation work. Answer questions within a day. Request third-party credentials before they are needed.
Clients who do these finish two to three weeks earlier on identical scopes.
Frequently asked questions
Can it be done in four weeks?
Why does the review interface take so long?
Does more people make it faster?
What if the model improves during the build?
Have a date you need to hit?
Tell us the date and what must work by then. We will tell you what fits and what should wait for phase two.
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