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COMPLIANCE
BLOG ARTICLES
Principles, Practices, & Insights


Jidoka and AI: Lessons for Compliance
As someone working in compliance during this wave of AI adoption, I've been thinking about how we approach automation differently than other industries. The compliance field is naturally cautious about new technology—and for good reason. When we fail to meet regulatory standards, performance targets, or outcome requirements, the consequences extend far beyond operational inefficiency. Recently, I've been reflecting on Jidoka, Toyota's manufacturing principle that emerged over
Raimund Laqua
4 min read


Safety Design Principles for AI Adoption in Organizations
How do we deliver safe AI? This is the question every organization grappling with AI adoption must answer. Yet too often, discussions...
Raimund Laqua
5 min read


Why Risk Assessments Should Begin with Uncertainty
By Raimund Laqua, Founder of Lean Compliance Why Risk Assessments Should Start with Uncertainty Walk into most organizations today, and...
Raimund Laqua
4 min read


AI Risk Containment in Industrial Systems
AI Risk Containment Architecture Industrial leaders in safety-critical, highly regulated sectors like energy, chemical processing,...
Raimund Laqua
1 min read


Why Your IT Playbook Won't Work for AI Systems
Organizational leadership faces a critical decision: apply familiar commodity IT approaches to AI development or invest in systematic...
Raimund Laqua
5 min read


Have We Reached The End of Software Engineering?
By Raimund Laqua, P.Eng The End of Software Engineering? I've spent over three decades practising engineering in both Canada and the...
Raimund Laqua
4 min read


Why AI Isn't Ready for Commoditization
Technology Life-cycle As I observe the current state of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the rush surrounding its deployment, I find...
Raimund Laqua
5 min read


Intelligent Design for Intelligent Systems: Restoring Engineering Discipline in AI Development
The Current Challenge AI systems are increasingly deployed without the systematic design approaches that have proven effective in other...
Raimund Laqua
7 min read


Which is Better for AI Safety: STAMP/STPA or HAZOP/PHA?
STAMP/STPA and traditional PHA methods like HAZOP represent fundamentally different safety analysis philosophies. STAMP/STPA views...
Raimund Laqua
2 min read


AI Engineering: The Last Discipline Standing
The software engineering and related domains are undergoing their most dramatic transformation in decades. In discussions I have had over...
Raimund Laqua
5 min read


AI's Category Failure
When a technology can reshape entire industries, automate critical decisions, and potentially act autonomously in the physical world, how...
Raimund Laqua
5 min read


Does Your AI Strategy Pass the Ketchup Test?
A simple test to bust through the hype These days, AI providers, leaders, and evangelists claim that AI technology will transform any...
Raimund Laqua
2 min read


Promise Architectures: The New Guardrails for Agentic AI
As AI systems evolve from simple tools into autonomous agents capable of independent decision-making and action, we face a fundamental...
Raimund Laqua
6 min read


AI's Most Serious Blindspot and Bias
Working with AI over the past year opened my eyes to a systemic problem: AI systems are stuck in the past. This creates both a serious...
Raimund Laqua
2 min read


The New Face of AI Assurance: Why Audits and Certifications Are Not Enough
AI Assurance isn't just about checking boxes before deployment. As the European Defence Agency shows us, it's now a continuous journey...
Raimund Laqua
2 min read


Compliance is Probabilistic
In my three decades as a compliance engineer, I've watched our profession's obsession with check-boxes undermine effective risk...
Raimund Laqua
2 min read


Why Ethics Makes AI Innovation Better
Ethics in AI is fundamentally an alignment problem between technological capabilities and human values. While discussions often focus on...
Raimund Laqua
2 min read


Engineering Responsibility: A Practitioner's Guide to Meaningful AI Oversight
As a compliance engineer, I've watched AI transform from research curiosity to world-changing technology. What began as exciting progress...
Raimund Laqua
3 min read


Transforming Business Through AI: Key Insights
The business world is changing fast as companies adopt AI technology. At a recent conference that I attended, experts shared valuable...
Raimund Laqua
6 min read


Operational Compliance - Update
The following diagram is a vertical orientation of our Operational Compliance Model updated to better emphasize how bridging the gap...
Raimund Laqua
2 min read


Business Intelligence: Are We Asking the Right Question?
During our Elevate Compliance huddle this week, we explored how to transform data into compliance intelligence. Everyone agrees...
Raimund Laqua
1 min read


The Trinity of Trust: Monitoring, Observability, and Explainability in Modern Systems
In today's compliance landscape, organizations face mounting pressure to build reliable systems while meeting an expanding array of...
Raimund Laqua
3 min read


AI Risk in High-Consequence Industries: 5 Critical Challenges
The rush to implement artificial intelligence across highly-regulated sectors presents an urgent safety challenge that many organizations...
Raimund Laqua
2 min read


Why Engineering Matters to AI
As organizations rush to adopt artificial intelligence, one common mistake is treating AI systems like just another IT solution. After...
Raimund Laqua
3 min read
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