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Measuring AI Productivity in Software Delivery

WHITEPAPER

Measuring AI Productivity in Software Delivery

AI & innovation

Every leadership team in software delivery is asking some version of the same question: what productivity gains are we getting from AI, and what should we expect over the next twelve months?

Mark Rainford

VP of Commercial & Innovation, 8 West Consulting

Jul 03, 2026

LATEST

ARTICLE

Make Claude Talk Aircraft Manual Language (ASD-STE100)
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Aug 20, 2026
ARTICLE

The Hidden Cost of AI: How to Cut Your Token Spend Without Losing Performance
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Jul 29, 2026

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ARTICLE

Make Claude Talk Aircraft Manual Language (ASD-STE100)

AI & innovation

How a 40-Year-Old Aerospace Standard Fixes Claude's Verbosity Problem.
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Janos Farkas

Technical Lead, 8 West Consulting

Aug 20, 2026
ARTICLE

The Hidden Cost of AI: How to Cut Your Token Spend Without Losing Performance

AI & innovation

strategy

Unpredictable token consumption, driven by long outputs and compounding context in multi-turn conversations, causes severe budget overruns for organizations using generative AI. By combining techniques like prompt caching, model routing, and proper instrumentation, teams can reduce AI costs without sacrificing quality.
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8 West Consulting

Your Vision Realised

Jul 29, 2026
ARTICLE

Keeping Claude Code Useful in Large Codebases

AI & innovation

How to keep AI coding agents useful as a codebase grows, by giving them structure, memory, and built-in friction to challenge their own work.
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Janos Farkas

Technical Lead, 8 West Consulting

Jul 10, 2026
WHITEPAPER

Measuring AI Productivity in Software Delivery

AI & innovation

Every leadership team in software delivery is asking some version of the same question: what productivity gains are we getting from AI, and what should we expect over the next twelve months?
READ MORE

Mark Rainford

VP of Commercial & Innovation, 8 West Consulting

Jul 03, 2026
ARTICLE

The Rediscovery of Deep Specification: How LLMs will Rewrite the Agile Playbook

AI & innovation

strategy

Agile moved us away from deep specification for good reasons. LLMs may have quietly removed them. Our Director of Engineering, Brendan Lawlor, makes the case that some assumptions shaping software development for 25 years are worth revisiting.
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Brendan Lawlor

Director of Engineering, 8 West Consulting

May 26, 2026
ARTICLE

Supply Chain Defense for Modern Package Managers

security

AI & innovation

architecture

Modern software imports code from hundreds of strangers at build time, and AI-powered attackers are making that risk harder to ignore. Our Software Architect, Russ, breaks down the practical defences every engineering team should have in place across TypeScript, C#, Python, Kotlin, and Rust.
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Russ Painter

Software Architect, 8 West Consulting

May 20, 2026
ARTICLE

Comprehension Debt: How Misusing AI Can Make You Worse At Your Job

AI & innovation

strategy

Using AI to move faster is useful. Losing the reasoning behind what it produces is a risk most teams underestimate. Our Software Architect, Russ, explores comprehension debt, what it is, why it applies across every role, and how to avoid it.
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Russ Painter

Software Architect, 8 West Consulting

Apr 28, 2026
ARTICLE

Chrome Dev Tools AI Generated Code for Page Querying and Brainstorming

AI & innovation

Chrome 147 added AI code generation directly in the developer console, and it's more useful than it sounds. This article walks through practical examples of using it for DOM querying, data scraping, and quick rebranding proofs of concept without writing a line of code manually.
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Russ Painter

Software Architect, 8 West Consulting

Apr 21, 2026
ARTICLE

Caveman AI Skill for Terse Replies

AI & innovation

AI output is often too long, too polished, and full of filler. Our Software Architect, Russ, shares the Caveman skill, a practical way to strip AI responses back to what actually matters, with installation instructions and usage options for individuals and teams.
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Russ Painter

Software Architect, 8 West Consulting

Apr 13, 2026
ARTICLE

Brooks’ Law Still Holds. But Something Else Changed.

AI & innovation

strategy

Brooks' Law hasn't broken, but something fundamental has shifted. Our Director of Engineering, Brendan Lawlor, explores how LLMs are moving the bottlenecks in software delivery and what that means for engineering roles at every level.
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Brendan Lawlor

Director of Engineering, 8 West Consulting

Mar 25, 2026
ARTICLE

What I Actually Want From AI in Software Delivery: Read the Logs, Write the Fix, Let Me Approve

AI & innovation

Code generation is only half the story. Our Software Architect, Mel Collins, makes the case for AI that stays in the loop after the code is written, reading logs, identifying root causes, preparing fixes, and handing the result to a human for approval.
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Mel Collins

Software Architect, 8 West Consulting

Mar 16, 2026
ARTICLE

IDE-Less Development with Codex

AI & innovation

Our Software Architect, Mel Collins, built a fully functional Android app in 5 hours using Codex, with no prior Android, Flutter, or Bluetooth protocol experience. A practical look at what IDE-less, conversational AI development actually looks like in practice.
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Mel Collins

Software Architect, 8 West Consulting

Mar 11, 2026
ARTICLE

CLEAR. Practical AI-First Design Principles for Real Codebases

AI & innovation

architecture

AI tools have given architecture a second consumer alongside human developers. Our Software Architect, Mel Collins, outlines CLEAR, the practical framework for designing codebases where both humans and AI can reason effectively.
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Mel Collins

Software Architect, 8 West Consulting

Jan 20, 2026
WHITEPAPER

Future-Proof Your SEO Strategy for AI Search

AI & innovation

strategy

AEO, GEO and LLMO Recommendations
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Deirdre O'Connell

Senior Software Developer, 8 West Consulting

Nov 13, 2025
ARTICLE

Understanding (and fixing) the LLM Hallucinations Problem

AI & innovation

LLM hallucinations are one of the most discussed limitations of AI, but what causes them and can they be fixed? This article explains why models hallucinate and the techniques being used to contain them. A practical read for anyone working with AI where accuracy matters.
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Marcello Carboni

Cyber Security Specialist, 8 West Consulting

Nov 04, 2025
ARTICLE

Agentic Coding in Practice: A Client Case Study

health insurtech

AI & innovation

A real-world test of agentic coding on a production application for a dental insurance client, tracking every hour to measure what AI assistance actually delivers. The result was a 38.3% reduction in development time, with lessons on where human judgment remains essential.
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Russ Painter

Software Architect, 8 West Consulting

Oct 22, 2025
ARTICLE

How to Create Zero Trust Architecture

security

architecture

The traditional perimeter model of cybersecurity has a fundamental flaw. once an attacker is inside, they can move freely. This article from our Cyber Security Specialist, Marcello Carboni, explains the Zero Trust architecture model, its core principles, and why never trust, always verify has become the standard approach for organisations operating in today's complex, cloud-first environments.
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Marcello Carboni

Cyber Security Specialist, 8 West Consulting

Oct 02, 2025
ARTICLE

AI and Deveolpment

AI & innovation

Can AI go beyond prototypes and help build real production tools? Our Technical Lead, Simone Medas, put that question to the test using Cursor, sharing what worked, where human judgment was still essential, and what it means to work with AI as a development partner.
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Simone Medas

Technical Lead, 8 West Consulting

Jun 26, 2025
ARTICLE

The Emergence of Package Hallucination Attacks

security

AI & innovation

When AI generates code referencing packages that don't exist, attackers can register those names with malicious software. Our Cyber Security Specialist, Marcello Carboni, explains how this emerging supply chain attack works and what teams can do to protect against it.
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Marcello Carboni

Cyber Security Specialist, 8 West Consulting

Jun 06, 2025
WHITEPAPER

Well-Architected Framework Overview

architecture

Many organisations are running cloud environments that are underperforming, over-spending, or carrying hidden risk. This whitepaper walks through the Well-Architected Framework review process, covering all six pillars, and shows how a structured assessment delivers the visibility, roadmap, and expert guidance needed to optimise your cloud infrastructure with confidence.
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8 West Consulting

Your Vision Realised

Jun 03, 2025
WHITEPAPER

FinOps & Cost Optimization Overview

architecture

The FinOps & Cost Optimization Overview outlines how a FinOps-driven approach enables organisations to optimise cloud spend, improve visibility, and align cost with business value.
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8 West Consulting

Your Vision Realised

Jun 03, 2025
WEBINAR

Getting Started with Datadog

architecture

Datadog is a key tool in our cloud engineering team's Well Architected Framework Audits which help organisations realise cost savings on their cloud environments, as well as map out a path to improved maturity in performance, reliability and security.
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8 West Consulting

Your Vision Realised

Jun 02, 2025
ARTICLE

A Quick Look at the Evolution of Phishing

security

Phishing has evolved from low-effort scams to one of the most sophisticated attack vectors in cybersecurity. Our Cyber Security Specialist, Marcello Carboni, traces that evolution from the early AOL days to AI-driven phishing in 2025, and what it means for organisations trying to stay ahead.
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Marcello Carboni

Cyber Security Specialist, 8 West Consulting

Apr 22, 2025
ARTICLE

Jailbreaking AI: How Large Language Models Can Be Exploited

security

AI & innovation

LLMs are advancing fast but remain surprisingly easy to manipulate. Our Cyber Security Specialist, Marcello Carboni, explores how jailbreaking works and why it matters as AI becomes more embedded in everyday workflows.
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Marcello Carboni

Cyber Security Specialist, 8 West Consulting

Mar 19, 2025
ARTICLE

Embracing Journey-Centric Design

ecommerce

health insurtech

strategy

design

Most digital experience problems are not caused by poor products. they are caused by the gaps between them. This article explores how Journey-Centric Design moves beyond isolated improvements to create seamless, end-to-end experiences that drive real business outcomes.
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Brendan Foley

Director of Creative and UX, 8 West Consulting

Feb 28, 2025
ARTICLE

Technical Deep Dive on converting native app to React Native

ecommerce

architecture

A technical walkthrough of how 8 West migrated an iOS Swift app to React Native, covering the architecture decisions, state management approach, and performance considerations that made the transition a success, and what teams considering a similar move should know.
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Catalin Mirza

Full-Stack Engineer, 8 West Consulting

Feb 18, 2025
ARTICLE

Why Build in React Native

ecommerce

architecture

Maintaining separate iOS and Android codebases costs more than it needs to for most apps. This article explains when React Native makes sense as a cross-platform alternative and what the tradeoffs are worth knowing before you make the switch.
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Alison McDonnell

Project Manager, 8 West Consulting

Feb 13, 2025
ARTICLE

ECSO: Cybersecurity in Healthcare - Key Takeaways

security

health insurtech

Healthcare is one of the most targeted sectors for cyberattacks, yet cybersecurity remains an afterthought across much of the industry. Our Cyber Security Specialist, Marcello Carboni, summarises key findings and proposed solutions from ECSO's recent healthcare cybersecurity webinar.
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Marcello Carboni

Cyber Security Specialist, 8 West Consulting

Feb 12, 2025
ARTICLE

Redefining Online Retail with AI

ecommerce

AI & innovation

AI is not just changing how retailers operate. it is reshaping how consumers buy. This article from Mark Rainford looks at how AI-driven sales agents and conversational commerce are set to make traditional ecommerce playbooks obsolete, and what smart retailers are already doing about it.
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Mark Rainford

VP of Commercial & Innovation, 8 West Consulting

Feb 06, 2025
ARTICLE

Generative AI and Offensive Security

security

AI & innovation

AI is making software teams more productive. It is doing the same for attackers. This article from our team looks at how generative AI is already being used in real-world attacks, from convincing phishing campaigns and deepfake scams to polymorphic malware that evades detection.
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Marcello Carboni

Cyber Security Specialist, 8 West Consulting

Jan 21, 2025

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