Month four is when the demo has to meet real users, real data and a real budget. It is also when most pilots quietly stop.

Nobody owns it

The data scientist who built the pilot has moved on to the next idea, and the platform team never agreed to run it. Decide ownership before the first line of code.

The data contract is missing

The pilot ran on a hand-cleaned export. Production needs a feed that arrives on time, in the same shape, every day.