Mohamed F. Ahmed

Field Notes · live series

Dispatches from the
deployment.

Notes from the front lines of enterprise AI — why production, not prototypes, is the real finish line. Each dispatch is archived here as it goes out on LinkedIn.

  1. 09 Forward Deployed Engineering

    Pay for outcomes

    Hourly billing rewards effort. AI should be paid for outcomes.

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    Conversation opens on LinkedIn on posting day.
    #AgenticAI#EnterpriseAI#ForwardDeployedEngineering
  2. 08 Forward Deployed Engineering

    What makes an FDE

    The most in-demand engineer of 2026 doesn't have the job title you'd guess.

    Read the full dispatch
    Conversation opens on LinkedIn on posting day.
    #ForwardDeployedEngineering#AICareers#AgenticAI
  3. 07 Forward Deployed Engineering

    When you shouldn't use FDE

    Here's something you might not expect from someone at AWS: not every organization should bring in forward deployed engineers.

    Read the full dispatch
    Conversation opens on LinkedIn on posting day.
    #ForwardDeployedEngineering#EnterpriseAI#AITransformation
  4. 06 Forward Deployed Engineering

    Built from the inside out

    Before AWS embedded engineers with customers, it ran the experiment on itself.

    Read the full dispatch
    Conversation opens on LinkedIn on posting day.
    #AIDLC#AgenticAI#ForwardDeployedEngineering
  5. 05 Forward Deployed Engineering

    The workflow is the moat

    A 30-developer project, scoped at 12–18 months. Delivered in 76 days.

    Read the full dispatch
    Conversation opens on LinkedIn on posting day.
    #AINativeDevelopment#AgenticAI#FrontierTeams
  6. 04 Forward Deployed Engineering

    The leave-behind principle

    The best measure of an AI engagement isn't what you ship. It's what happens after you leave.

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    Conversation opens on LinkedIn on posting day.
    #ForwardDeployedEngineering#EnterpriseAI#AgenticAI
  7. 03 Forward Deployed Engineering

    Proximity turned out to be the technology

    Three years ago, AWS ran an experiment: what happens if you put applied scientists and strategists directly in the room with customers, instead of shipping them a deck?

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    Conversation opens on LinkedIn on posting day.
    #GenerativeAI#ForwardDeployedEngineering#AWS
  8. 02 Forward Deployed Engineering

    Not consulting with a cooler name

    Forward Deployed Engineering is not consulting with a cooler name. If it doesn't leave the customer more capable than it found them, it isn't FDE.

    Read the full dispatch
    Conversation opens on LinkedIn on posting day.
    #ForwardDeployedEngineering#AgenticAI#AIDLC
  9. 01 Forward Deployed Engineering

    The last mile

    An MIT study found ~95% of enterprise AI pilots never produce measurable P&L impact. The models were rarely the problem. The last mile was.

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