LLM Strategy: Choosing the Smallest Effective Fix

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Choosing the right lever for an LLM product: diagnose the measured failure first, then decide whether prompt engineering, retrieval or fine-tuning is the smallest fix, combining approaches only when the evidence calls for it.

A little perspective. A lot of possibility.30 articles · Arabic & English

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Branching diagram: Failure, Instructions, Knowledge, Behavior.

AI engineering29 Jan 2026

Fine-Tuning, RAG or Prompt Engineering? Diagnose the Failure First

Choose between prompt engineering, RAG and fine-tuning by diagnosing why answers fail: unclear instructions, missing knowledge or a consistent behavior problem. Then apply the smallest change that fixes the measured failure.

LLM Strategy

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Fine-Tuning, RAG or Prompt Engineering? Diagnose the Failure First