AI coding assistants in a small development team: a practical guide
How a small development team can adopt AI coding assistants well: the kinds of tool, where they save time, review habits, secrets and a two-week trial.
· 7 min read
Software care for bespoke software · Since 2011
We look after the bespoke software your organisation depends on.
When the people who built your bespoke software have moved on, we take it over, make it safe and look after it every month, with a named senior engineer accountable for it. Based in Cambridge and working with organisations across the UK.
Trading since 2011
Customer relationships of up to 15 years
Microsoft partner
Does this sound familiar?
Software that matters, and nobody looking after it.
Most organisations that come to us are in one of these positions. None of them is unusual, and each has a clear way forward.
“The person who built it has left.”
“We've been told our version is going out of support.”
“We bought a business and inherited its systems.”
“An auditor asked how it's patched, and we had no answer.”
“It went down, and it took a week to find someone to fix it.”
“Our only developer is retiring.”
Software care
Three steps to software you can rely on.
Software care is a monthly service for business-critical bespoke software. It starts with an honest look at where your system stands.
01
Audit
A one-week review of one system: how it's built, how exposed it is, and what it would take to look after it. You get a plain-English report with the risks ranked.
The software health audit02
Take over
We put the code in your own source control, add automated tests, set up a repeatable release process and monitoring, and write the documentation that's missing.
How onboarding works03
Look after
Every month we monitor the system, apply security updates, keep its frameworks in support, fix faults and send you a plain-English health report.
What software care includes
Why it works
Preparation, accountability and openness.
Most of the value in looking after software is created before anything goes wrong. That's where we put our effort.
We take on other people's software
Taking over a system someone else built is our main work. We expect gaps in the documentation and the tests, and we know how to close them.
We prepare so problems are rare
We add automated tests to systems that have none, install monitoring and alerting, and keep frameworks in support. We aim to find faults before you do.
A named engineer, with a backup
A named senior engineer is accountable for your system, and a named backup engineer knows it too. You always know who is looking after it.
You're never locked in
Your code and documentation stay in your own repository. If you ever move on, everything you need is already yours.
AI agents, under human control
We use AI agents openly to do more thorough work than a small team could alone. Every change is tested and independently reviewed, and a named engineer signs it off.
In it for the long term
Eastpoint has been trading since 2011, and some of our customer relationships have lasted 15 years.
Other services
Planning, building and improving software.
We also plan product roadmaps, build new applications, move systems to the cloud and put AI to practical use, with the same engineering discipline we bring to software care.
AI Adoption
Practical, responsible AI for everyday work: the right tools, sensible guardrails, and quick wins your team will actually use.
Find out moreSoftware & Integration
Well-built bespoke tools, connected systems, and a calm way forward for the spreadsheet that quietly runs the business.
Find out moreCloud migration and Azure
Moving bespoke and legacy applications to Microsoft Azure, modernising them where it pays, and building new applications for the cloud.
Find out moreProduct roadmap
Planning and overseeing your software product through its whole life: a prioritised roadmap tied to your goals, kept current.
Find out more
Insights
Practical thinking, plainly put.
Plain-English articles on software, AI and running technology well.
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Get in touch
Find out where your software stands.
A software health audit gives you a plain-English view of the risks in one system, and what it would take to look after it properly. There's no obligation to continue.