Introduction: Retrieval evaluation is the foundation of building effective RAG systems and search applications. Without proper metrics, you’re flying blind—unable to tell if your retrieval improvements actually help or hurt end-user experience. This guide covers the essential metrics for evaluating retrieval systems: precision and recall at various cutoffs, Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR), Normalized Discounted Cumulative […]
Read more →Category: Technology Engineering
Technology Engineering
Retrieval Augmented Fine-Tuning (RAFT): Training LLMs to Excel at RAG Tasks
Introduction: Retrieval Augmented Fine-Tuning (RAFT) represents a powerful approach to improving LLM performance on domain-specific tasks by combining the benefits of fine-tuning with retrieval-augmented generation. Traditional RAG systems retrieve relevant documents at inference time and include them in the prompt, but the base model wasn’t trained to effectively use retrieved context. RAFT addresses this by […]
Read more →The Hidden Tax on Innovation: Why FinOps Is the Most Important Discipline You’re Probably Ignoring
Every organization eventually faces the same uncomfortable realization: their cloud bill has become a runaway train. What starts as a modest monthly expense metastasizes into millions of dollars in annual spend, with nobody quite able to explain where all the money goes. FinOps Framework Overview The Three Pillars of FinOps The FinOps Foundation defines three […]
Read more →The Architecture Decision That Will Make or Break Your System: Monolith vs Microservices in 2025
The debate between monolithic and microservices architectures has evolved significantly over the past decade. What was once a straightforward “microservices are better” narrative has matured into a nuanced understanding that the right architecture depends entirely on context. After leading architecture decisions across dozens of enterprise systems, I’ve learned that the most expensive mistakes come not […]
Read more →Multi-turn Conversation Design: Building Natural Dialogue Systems with LLMs
Introduction: Multi-turn conversations are where LLM applications become truly useful. Users don’t just ask single questions—they refine, follow up, reference previous context, and expect the assistant to remember what was discussed. Building effective multi-turn systems requires careful attention to context management, history compression, turn-taking logic, and graceful handling of topic changes. This guide covers practical […]
Read more →Design Thinking in the Age of AI: Why Human-Centered Product Development Matters More Than Ever
The resurgence of design thinking in enterprise software development might seem paradoxical in an era dominated by AI-generated solutions. Yet after witnessing countless projects, the truth is clear: AI makes technical implementation easier while understanding user needs becomes harder. The 5-Phase Design Thinking Framework Why Design Thinking Matters More in the AI Era The proliferation […]
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