Code of Leadership #85 Materials: FDE with Pavel Golubev (#Leadership)

The materials are ready for Code of Leadership episode 85, released on October 15, 2026: “FDE: Who Makes AI Work for the Customer?” We spoke with Pavel Golubev, Principal AI FDE Manager at Microsoft and author of the Corporate AI channel. How do you promise a business outcome before examining the customer’s data, when it is still unclear who has the authority to change its processes?

We discussed:

🔸 How work with customers is changing Pavel describes a shift from engineering support aimed at Azure consumption to paid projects with outcome commitments. He says this operating model is still taking shape.

🔸 Why feasibility needs its own assessment Before promising an impact, the team needs to understand the data and constraints. Pavel proposes a paid discovery phase; we discuss why refusing a small initial investment can increase the risk of a larger project.

🔸 How access permissions shape architecture In an oil-company case, complex document permissions and the internal IT team’s position influenced the solution more than the desire to simply add agents. The compromise kept solution creation with IT.

🔸 Why engineers participate in sales Broad ambitions need to become feasible work, with resource estimates and agreed checkpoints where a project can be revised or stopped.

🔸 Who FDE suits People who can quickly learn an unfamiliar domain, negotiate with several parties, and work through uncertainty. Sometimes the outcome will be a solution based on ordinary rules, even when the customer came looking for an AI agent.

This is a discussion of one team’s practices and constraints. I especially recommend it to people whose technical pilot already works but who are still a long way from delivering results for the customer.

Episode materials: 📌 Episode page with timestamps and written recap 🎬 Video: YouTube and VK Video 🎧 Audio: Podster and Apple Podcasts

Where does implementation most often stall for you: data, access permissions, or agreement on who can change the process?

#CodeOfLeadership #Leadership #Management #AI #Engineering #Product