Start with a business workflow, not a model. The strongest AI roadmaps identify where decisions, documents, support, or analysis are slowing the organization down.
Separate prototype risk from production risk. A proof of concept can validate usefulness, while production planning must cover security, monitoring, data quality, fallbacks, and ownership.
Treat evaluation as a product feature. Define how accuracy, latency, cost, safety, and user satisfaction will be measured before the first release.