Engineering firms decide which projects go in.

The way designs get built and changed

What AI labs value most is the record of engineering judgment, not only the completed drawings:

• CAD models and the revisions behind them
• BOMs and the spreadsheets behind your calculations
• Simulation results set against test results
• Notes from design reviews showing why something changed
• Your own products, with their schematics and inspection data

Every name becomes a placeholder

In the copy, placeholders replace the names of clients, vendors and engineers, as well as addresses and account numbers. Nobody asks for passwords, and your originals stay put in the vault. A sample from the finished copy needs your approval before anything goes out.

Designs owned by clients can stay out

A design that is a client's property or falls under an NDA can be excluded one project at a time. It is up to you and counsel to judge whether client work suits the terms you signed. We do not give legal advice about it. Your own internal methods and product lines are often the simpler place to start.

Work under export controls stays out

Technical data on some programs is subject to export controls. Any project like that can be left out of scope completely, and you are the one who flags it. If a project leaves you unsure, exclude it.

A good place to begin

Start with the estimate, then go through which projects belong to you and which do not during that first brief call. Try a simple list with four groups: in house products, client programs, NDA projects, export controlled projects. Scope usually begins with the first group. You can add or remove projects later, but nothing is prepared until you agree on the list, and nothing goes out until you approve the sample. Nobody on your engineering team has to pause their work.