ManningBooks

ManningBooks

Devtalk Sponsor

Look Before You Leap (Manning)

How can you be sure your next AI project is worthwhile before you build it? Look Before You Leap offers a repeatable go/kill/pivot decision framework you can apply to any AI project, from classical machine learning to generative AI agents. It unifies design, strategy, and finance assessments with engineering feasibility into a fast, evidence-based way to determine which AI ideas deserve resources and which are best avoided!

Christophe De Greift

This new book focuses on something many teams skip: deciding whether an AI idea is worth building before you commit time and budget. Instead of relying on gut feel or pressure to “do something with AI,” it lays out a structured way to evaluate ideas early and make a clear call—move forward, rethink, or drop it.

Inside, you’ll find practical tools you can use right away:

  • simple canvases to map out the problem and expected value

  • scorecards to assess readiness (data, team, infrastructure)

  • interview guides to test assumptions with stakeholders

  • prioritization models that help compare competing ideas

  • prompts you can adapt to explore use cases quickly

The examples come from a range of domains—real estate, retail, manufacturing, finance—which makes it easier to see how the same thinking applies across different contexts.

What stands out is how the book connects strategy, engineering feasibility, and cost into a single decision process. You’re not evaluating ideas in isolation; you’re looking at whether they can actually be delivered and whether they’ll matter if they are.

If you’ve been part of an AI project that stalled halfway through—or one that shipped but didn’t really land—this will feel familiar.


Don’t forget you can get 45% off with your Devtalk discount! Just use the coupon code “devtalk.com” at checkout :+1:

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