Start with a real user pain
The best LLM features remove friction from an existing workflow. They summarize what users already read, extract what users already copy, answer questions users already search for, or draft work users already create manually.
Good first features are bounded
Summaries, extraction, classification, semantic search, document Q&A, drafting assistants, and workflow copilots can all work well when the scope is narrow.
Design the product surface
Users need to know what the feature does, what data it used, how to edit the output, and when they should verify it.
Build evaluation into the feature
Before launch, define examples, expected outputs, failure cases, and quality scores. After launch, collect feedback and logs that tell you where the feature is weak.
Control cost and latency
Cache stable outputs, route simple tasks to cheaper models where appropriate, and monitor latency from day one.