Accelerated Innovation

Validating Definition of Ready Requirements with EDD

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Validating Definition of Ready Requirements with EDD

Description

This capability focuses on using Evaluation-Driven Development (EDD) to confirm that GenAI solutions meet all pre-launch readiness criteria. It includes applying targeted tests to validate whether inputs, configurations, safeguards, and business logic are properly defined and working as expected before a solution moves into production or wider rollout.

Why it's Important

A clearly defined “Definition of Ready” (DoR) ensures GenAI solutions are stable, testable, and aligned with business needs before full deployment. But too often, readiness criteria are either vague or inconsistently enforced. EDD enables objective validation of readiness through structured evaluation. By testing against DoR measures before launch, teams can avoid avoidable rework, reduce risk, and accelerate time to value with greater confidence.

Why it's Challenging @ Scale

  • DoR criteria are vague or inconsistent: Teams may have different understandings of what “ready” means.
  • Readiness checks are not linked to evaluation: Items are marked complete based on assumptions, not actual performance signals.
  • Validation steps are skipped under pressure: Tight deadlines often lead to readiness shortcuts.
  • No shared process for assessing DoR compliance: Teams lack a common way to test and confirm that readiness measures are met.
  • Poor documentation of what was validated: It’s hard to prove readiness if the validation trail is incomplete or missing.

Complexity

High: Maturing this capability requires aligning on DoR requirements, embedding them into EDD pipelines, and enabling structured, automated validation across teams and solution types.

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Taking Action

Though most organizations begin their GenAI journey with significant knowledge gaps, there are targeted actions that can be taken to accelerate the process. Select your group’s current maturity, based on your assessment results, and act today.

  • Explore Key Concepts & Best Practices: Complete the Evaluation Driven Development for High-Impact GenAI Solutions workshop (2 hrs.) to understand foundational key concepts and explore applied best practices
  • Framing the Role of Evaluation in GenAI Development
  • Understanding Key EDD Concepts and Benefits
  • Linking EDD to Risk Mitigation and Solution Quality
  • Identifying Where and When to Use EDD
  • Planning Your EDD Implementation Strategy
  • Define Your Action Plan: Outline concrete, prioritized steps your organization will take to implement GenAI Strategy.
  • Align on your Current State and define your Target State
  • Create an actionable enablement plan
  • Define target timeline and measures of success
  • Deliver Quick Wins: Small, high-impact GenAI projects that can demonstrate tangible value in a short time frame.
  • Draft an Initial DoR Checklist: Identify 5-7 key readiness requirements to validate before launch.
  • Run an Evaluation to Confirm DoR Criteria Are Met: Use test cases or sample inputs to validate solution behavior against the checklist.
  • Document Which Requirements Passed and Which Need Tuning: Capture validation status to support decision-making.
  • Complete one or more of our Deep Dive Courses: Begin exploring key concepts and best practices, including:
  • Selecting Your EDD Methodology
  • Defining Your EDD Action Plan & DoR Measures
  • Curating Your EDD Data
  • Configuring Your EDD Solution
  • Executing & Analyzing Your EDD Results
  • Optimizing Iterating Your Results
  • Leveraging EDD to Monitor & Govern Your GenAI Solution
  • Nail It Before You Scale It: Assess and optimize your solution or process before adopting it at scale
  • Assess Your Proposed Solution or Process: Review where readiness requirements were missed or only partially validated.
  • Define in-scope Processes and Guardrails: Establish policies for when and how DoR validation must occur.
  • Close any Data or Measurement Gaps: Ensure that evaluation tools are able to verify each requirement, with traceable evidence.
  • Define Your Adoption & Scaling Plan: Create a structured roadmap for how GenAI solutions will be rolled out across teams, workflows, or business units
  • Define Your Phased Implementation Plan: Introduce DoR validation checkpoints across all teams and stages of solution maturity.
  • Build Awareness and Finalize Enablers: Share standard DoR templates, test plans, and validation checklists.
  • Operationalize Your Comms Plan: Help cross-functional teams understand why readiness validation improves launch success.
  • Formalize Your Best Practices: Document and standardize what’s working to ensure consistent, scalable success across teams and use cases
  • Publish a Standard DoR Validation Checklist: Ensure each GenAI solution includes the same core readiness checks.
  • Create Guidance for Interpreting EDD Signals Against DoR: Help teams translate evaluation results into clear pass/fail outcomes.
  • Maintain a Repository of Validated Solutions: Provide examples of solutions that successfully met DoR requirements through EDD.
  • Accelerate Your Adoption: Intensify efforts to embed GenAI across your organization by expanding use cases, increasing user engagement, and removing adoption barriers
  • Integrate DoR Validation into Release Processes: Require EDD-backed readiness checks before go-live.
  • Enable Teams to Self-Validate: Provide tools and templates that allow teams to run DoR tests without central support.
  • Track Validation Rates Across Programs: Monitor how consistently readiness is being confirmed through evaluation.
  • Celebrate Your Wins: Publicly acknowledge team accomplishments to build and sustain adoption momentum
  • Highlight Solutions That Passed All DoR Checks: Showcase readiness-driven launches that avoided rework.
  • Recognize Teams That Caught Issues Pre-Launch: Reward use of evaluation to flag and fix readiness gaps early.
  • Share Before-and-After Stories: Show how DoR validation improved solution quality and rollout speed.
  • Streamline & Embed: Integrate GenAI into core workflows while eliminating friction points to make usage seamless and routine
  • Embed DoR Validation into GenAI Delivery Templates: Require readiness checks as part of every standard workflow.
  • Standardize DoR Criteria Across Use Cases: Ensure consistency in what “ready” means regardless of domain or function.
  • Link DoR Status to Release Gates: Use evaluation results to approve, block, or conditionally release solutions.
  • Leverage Automation: Using GenAI-powered tools and workflows to streamline repetitive tasks, enhance operational efficiency, and reduce manual effort
  • Auto-Check DoR Requirements in EDD Pipelines: Trigger alerts when readiness gaps are detected.
  • Generate Readiness Reports Automatically: Summarize validation status based on latest evaluation runs.
  • Flag Solutions That Haven’t Been Fully Validated: Create visibility into where DoR validation is still incomplete.
  • Evolve & Further Accelerate: Continuously refine GenAI strategies based on insights and outcomes, while expanding into more complex or high-impact use cases
  • Refine DoR Measures Based on Risk and Use Case Type: Tailor requirements for creative, transactional, or high-stakes GenAI scenarios.
  • Benchmark Readiness Validation Across Teams: Identify which groups are most effective at confirming solution readiness.
  • Use DoR Compliance Rates to Inform Maturity Reviews: Include validation metrics in team scorecards or delivery KPIs.

Key "Watchouts"

As you take action you’ll want to avoid:

  • Treating DoR as a checklist, not a quality gate: Simply checking boxes won’t surface real readiness risks.
  • Leaving validation until the end: Readiness should be confirmed iteratively, not as a last-minute step.
  • Relying on subjective assessments: Use EDD signals to validate readiness, not just team opinion.
  • Skipping documentation: Lack of validation records weakens trust and makes launches harder to audit.
  • Overcomplicating DoR frameworks: Focus on what matters most to launch success-keep it practical and testable.

Targeted Benefits

While Validating Definition of Ready Requirements with EDD can be challenging, its benefits are clear and compelling, including:

  • Higher launch confidence: Know what’s working and what needs tuning before release.
  • Fewer production issues: Reduce rework, bug-fixing, and downstream surprises.
  • Faster delivery cycles: Speed up approvals by providing evidence of readiness.
  • Improved solution quality: Ensure GenAI behavior aligns with expectations, safeguards, and business needs.
  • Stronger cross-team alignment: Shared readiness criteria bring consistency and accountability across teams.

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Eddie
Accelerated Innovation

Hi, I'm Eddie 👋

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