The happy path is only the beginning.
A demo shows what happens when every input and API behaves as expected. Daily use introduces missing fields, timeouts, changed permissions and duplicate requests. Production design accounts for these conditions.
Validate before acting.
Check required fields and business rules before writing to another system. If the information is incomplete, route the item for review rather than guessing.
Retry without repeating the outcome.
Some failures are temporary. Retries should be bounded and use appropriate duplicate protection. A failed response does not always mean the external action failed, so recovery needs to account for that uncertainty.
Make ownership visible.
Define who receives alerts, how runs are inspected and how the workflow is paused or recovered. Documentation and monitoring are part of the deliverable.