qubiqAIHow a small test set on day one changes every decision that follows.
It is tempting to build the agent first and test it later. Flip that order and the project gets easier to steer, cheaper to change and far easier to trust.
Start with 30 real cases
Collect thirty real inputs with the answer a good human would give, including a handful of awkward ones. That is enough to begin. Add every failure you meet in production.
Score what matters
- Correctness: is the answer or action right?
- Safety: did it stay within permissions?
- Cost and latency: is it affordable and fast enough?
- Handling uncertainty: did it ask for help when it should?
Make every change a measurement
Swapping a model, editing a prompt or adding a tool should produce a before-and-after score within minutes. That ends opinion-driven debates and makes it safe to upgrade models as better ones arrive.
If you cannot measure it, you cannot safely change it.
Keep the eval set versioned and owned by your team. It becomes your most valuable asset: it outlives any single model.