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Why AI projects fail: the Field Report

Short pieces on why AI projects fail, written about problems you may already recognize and followed back to their cause. Read one in a sitting, and use it to decide whether the problem is on your team.

Latest

Missing records between systems: why the job says it succeeded

How a record reaches one system and never the other, and the check that compares both ends.

Amit Govil · October 22, 2026

Read the perspective
XONIK, Customer data inconsistency: why a customer hears conflicting answers from different systems. Line illustration of different answers about the same customer, drawn as parallel columns, one line short.
The Field ReportCustomer data inconsistency: why one customer hears conflicting answersWhy a customer hears conflicting answers, what staff do about it, and how to name a source for each fact.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
XONIK, Reopening decisions: why settled decisions return every quarter, and who can close them. Line illustration of a decision that returns to the agenda because no one can close it, drawn as a ring of steps with one step broken.
The Field ReportReopening decisions: why a settled decision comes back every quarterWhy a settled decision keeps returning, and who has to close it.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
XONIK, Decision ownership: why a decision everyone agreed to still has no owner. Line illustration of a decision leaving a meeting with a group of people and no owner, drawn as parallel lanes with one hand-off broken.
The Field ReportDecision ownership: why a decision everyone agreed to still has no ownerWhy a nod is not an assignment, and how to get an owner before people leave.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
XONIK, AI pilot to production cost: why a pilot is cheap and production is not. Line illustration of the layers a working pilot receives for free, drawn as stacked lines, with the layer production has to pay for failing.
The Field ReportAI pilot to production cost: what the pilot got for freeWhat a pilot borrows to look cheap, and who pays for it in production.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
XONIK, AI pilot handover: who takes over when the project team leaves. Line illustration of a river with a bank on each side and the bridge between them missing, standing for the handover between pilot and production that nobody scheduled.
The Field ReportAI pilot handover: who takes over when the project team leaves?The first date to put on a pilot plan is the day someone else takes over.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
XONIK, Key person risk: what your team cannot do while one person is on leave. Line drawing of a row of columns, some crossed by a broken path, standing for the capabilities that stop in an absence.
The Field ReportKey person risk: what your team cannot do while one person is on leaveA capability map of what stops in an absence, found by asking.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
XONIK, Key person dependency: the process that waits for one person to come back. Line drawing of a ticking line that stalls at one point and resumes only after a gap.
The Field ReportKey person dependency: the process that waits for one person to come backThe unwritten step one person holds, and how to see it before she's away.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
XONIK, AI assistant recommendations: why an assistant names your competitor and not you. Line drawing of one line splitting into branches, one running on and one stopping short, for the firm that can be verified and the one that can't.
The Field ReportAI assistant recommendations: why it names your competitor and not youWhat an assistant can check about competing firms, and where to look first.October 22, 2026 · 11 min read
XONIK, AI supplier shortlist: the buyer who asked an assistant and never found you. Line drawing of arcs fanning out from a dot, each reaching outward except one that stops short.
The Field ReportAI supplier shortlists: the buyer who asked an assistant and never found youA lost buyer leaves no trace. A question log is how you find them.October 22, 2026 · 11 min read
XONIK, Change approval meetings: why small changes now need a meeting. Line illustration of changes passing through more and more approvals until little comes out, drawn as a narrowing funnel with one leak.
The Field ReportChange approval meetings: why every small change now needs oneHow a meeting grows around a fragile system, and how written contracts hand decisions back to teams.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
XONIK, Rising cost of change: why each change to a system costs more than the one before. Line illustration of costs rising change by change, as a staircase that steepens, drawn as amber steps, one of them broken.
The Field ReportRising cost of change: why the third change costs more than the firstWhat each change leaves behind, and why the next one has to pay to find it out.October 22, 2026 · 10 min read
About the Field Report

What is a perspective on why AI projects fail, and what does it leave out?

A perspective is a short observation from delivery work. It opens with the answer, describes a situation you will recognize, traces it to the mechanism underneath and says what changes it. A diagram appears only where it does the work a table of findings would.

It leaves out the evidence base. A perspective makes no claim about how common a problem is and names no client, so the weight of the argument sits with the research reports behind it.

The problems the series keeps returning to

Pilots that prove a model and then stop: The handover nobody scheduled between pilot and production is about the date no plan names, and a companion piece lists what a pilot gets for free.

Decisions agreed and never carried out: Agreed in the meeting, owned by no one describes a room where everyone leaves believing someone else will act. Its companion asks why a decision keeps coming back.

Systems that disagree: the piece on a record held by one system and missing from another covers a fact that never arrives, and a companion piece covers copies of one fact drifting apart.

Change that gets dearer: Why the third change costs more than the first follows what each change leaves behind. The next piece asks why every change now needs a meeting.

Buyers who ask an assistant: The buyer who asked an assistant describes a loss that leaves no trace in any record, and its companion asks why a competitor was named instead.

Work that waits for one person: The process that waits for one person traces a step the process never named. The last piece asks what a team can't do while that person is away.

The example in a piece is a prop; the mechanism is what carries over to your team.

Read the perspective, or go straight to the report?

A perspective is enough when

  • You want to know whether a problem on your team is the one described.
  • You need the mechanism in plain words for a conversation with a colleague.
  • You have one sitting and one particular team in mind.

Go to the report when

  • You must explain how the failure forms to people who will challenge it.
  • You need the method, the sources and the limits in front of you.
  • You want the self-check to run on your own organization.

A perspective costs one sitting and helps you recognize a problem. It can't show how the problem forms in your case, and it states no rate. The report can, if you have time for the longer read.

Where a problem is set out in full

Each problem has a longer treatment elsewhere on the site. Find yours in the table when a perspective has told you enough to want the whole argument.

If this is your problemGo deeper with
A pilot that worked and never reached daily useThe report on why AI pilots stall, and the AI-to-Production Readiness Assessment
A decision nobody carries out, or nobody keeps closedThe report on ownership of live AI systems, and the AI Governance Assessment
Systems giving a customer different answersThe report on systems and data that stop agreeing
Change that costs more each timeThe Technology and Architecture Risk Assessment, which asks about change and dependencies
A buyer who asks an assistant and never finds youThe report on being found through AI assistants, and the AI Search Visibility Checklist
A process that waits for one personThe Technology Architecture Review Checklist, with its section on ownership and knowledge

How is a piece on why AI projects fail made, and where does it lead?

A situation earns a piece when it recurs across different businesses and its mechanism can be stated. We describe the example so that no client could be recognized, and cite a law or standard only after reading the passage it supports. Drafting tools may help. A person checks every fact, and the piece goes out under that person's name. We revisit a piece when the report or source behind it changes.

If a piece describes a problem you have, the free tools give a first scored read in your browser. AI Consulting is the service for pilots and ownership, and Technology Consulting for problems about systems and change.

What do readers ask about the Field Report?

Should I read a perspective or go straight to the report?

Read a perspective to check whether a problem on your team matches the pattern, or to put the mechanism in plain words for a colleague. Go to the report when you must explain the failure to people who will challenge it, or want the method and self-check.

Does a perspective say how common a problem is?

No. It describes how a failure forms and what changes it, and leaves the weight of evidence to the research reports behind it. Test the mechanism against your own team, because how often the pattern turns up elsewhere won't settle your case.

Are the examples real clients?

No client is named, and each example is described so that no client could be recognized. Treat it as a prop. The mechanism is what carries over, so ask whether the same steps are happening in your own work, whatever your industry.

How does a situation earn a place in the Field Report?

It has to recur across different businesses, and its mechanism has to be one we can state. A person checks every fact against its source and puts their name to the piece. We revisit it when the report or source behind it changes.

Does one of these sound like a team of yours?

Tell us which team it is and which step waits. We will say whether it matches the pattern described or points somewhere else.

Describe the situationRead the research behind these piecesBook a call