Independent Engineering Performance Assessment

We can tell you why delivery is slow —
and exactly what to do about it

You want to know when it'll ship. Your engineers are talking about story points and tech debt. We close that gap — a short, independent assessment that tells you, in plain business language, whether the problem is people, process or product, and what to do next.

See assessment pricing What's included
◆ Plain-English findings, not jargon
◆ Embedded on-site or remote
◆ Answers in days, not months
◆ Actionable with or without us

Sound familiar?

Delivery has become a black box

Many SMEs invest heavily in software engineering yet struggle to see what they get back. Work goes in, and what comes out is late, unpredictable, or not quite what the business asked for — and every "when will it be done?" conversation erodes a little more trust between engineering and the rest of the business.

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As a business leader, you just want to know when the app will launch. Your engineers are telling you about unit testing and tech debt.

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The estimate moves every sprint, and nobody can tell you whether it's the people, the process, or the product that's the problem.

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You're paying for a full engineering team. You can't tell if you're getting a fair return on it — and you don't know who to ask.

We can help.

The Service

An independent engineering assessment

A short, structured engagement that gets inside your engineering function and tells you, in plain business language, what's working, what isn't, and exactly what to do about it. We embed with your teams — on site or remotely — joining stand-ups, planning and retrospectives, running one-to-ones with engineers, and working directly with your leadership to understand the outcomes you need.

What we examine

  • ✓
    Agile delivery — how work flows from idea to production, including planning, ceremonies and ways of working.
  • ✓
    Technical capability — whether the team has the skills, seniority mix and capacity to deliver what's being asked of it.
  • ✓
    Team structure — squad shape, roles, ownership and communication lines.
  • ✓
    Estimation & forecasting — story pointing, sizing and whether leadership can rely on the numbers.
  • ✓
    Product interface — ticket quality, requirements clarity and the handover between product and engineering.

What you receive

A comprehensive written report

Plain-language findings on where the issues genuinely lie — skills, process, structure, or the quality of what engineering is being asked to build — with prioritised, practical recommendations your leadership team can implement themselves.

A costed remediation proposal

Where you'd rather have hands-on help, we include a costed proposal for Automation Associates to deliver the fix with you — no obligation to take it.

Engagement Tiers

Straightforward pricing, scoped to your team

Every tier concludes with a findings walkthrough for your leadership team. Every recommendation is designed to be actionable without us — the costed remediation quote is there if you want it.

1–10 engineers

£2,500

For a single team or small department.

  • Up to 2 days embedded with the team, on site or remote
  • One-to-ones with engineers
  • Ceremony observation
  • Leadership sessions
  • Full written report with recommendations
Enquire

Growing organisations

11–30 engineers

£5,000

For multiple teams across a broader function.

  • Up to 4 days embedded, across teams
  • One-to-ones with engineers
  • Ceremony observation
  • Leadership sessions
  • Full written report with recommendations
Enquire

30+ engineers

From £10,000POA

A scaled assessment across multiple squads and leadership layers.

  • Scope, on-site time and price agreed to fit your organisation
  • Multiple squads and leadership layers covered
  • Leadership sessions
  • Full written report with recommendations
Talk to us

If you want hands-on help

The remediation, delivered with you

Every assessment comes with recommendations your team can implement on its own. When you'd rather not go it alone, this is what the costed proposal typically covers — often with AI-driven tooling as the fastest lever for measurable improvement.

AI Tooling Integration

We evaluate, select, and embed AI coding assistants, review tools, and automation agents into your existing workflows — from IDE to CI/CD pipeline.

SDLC Transformation

We map your software delivery lifecycle and identify high-impact automation opportunities — from requirements gathering through to deployment and monitoring.

Team Enablement

Hands-on workshops and embedded coaching to get your developers comfortable with AI-assisted workflows — driving adoption that actually sticks.

Quality & Testing Automation

Leverage AI to generate smarter test suites, surface regressions earlier, and increase coverage without proportionally increasing effort.

Architecture & Strategy

We assess your current tech landscape and help you make informed decisions about AI investments — ensuring alignment with your business goals and team capabilities.

Metrics & Continuous Improvement

We define and track the right KPIs to show the impact of AI-driven changes on your velocity, quality, and developer experience — and keep improving from there.

How we work

From assessment to lasting change

We don't drop a report on your desk and disappear. We work collaboratively, from the first stand-up we sit in on to the last improvement that sticks.

01

Assess

We run the independent engineering assessment — embedded with your teams, examining delivery, capability, structure, estimation and the product interface.

02

Report

You get a plain-English written report: what's really going on, prioritised recommendations, and — if you want it — a costed proposal to fix it with you.

03

Remediate

If you take up the proposal, we implement alongside your team — pairing, coaching, and configuring so every change is understood and owned by your engineers.

04

Evolve

We measure impact, iterate, and ensure the improvements compound over time. Better delivery is not a one-time project — it's an ongoing capability.

Why Automation Associates

We've been engineers.
We know what works.

Most consultants advise from a distance. We've sat in the stand-ups, run the one-to-ones, and carried the P&L for engineering teams ourselves — so when we tell you whether your problem is people, process or product, it's grounded in having fixed exactly that problem before.

We don't sell platforms or lock you into specific vendors, and the assessment isn't a sales pitch for our own services. We find the right fix for your team, your stack, and your goals — then we make sure your people know how to sustain it, whether that's with us or without us.

  • ✓ Vendor-neutral recommendations
  • ✓ Embedded, hands-on engagement — not just advice
  • ✓ Outcome-focused from day one
  • ✓ Knowledge transfer built in — your team grows too
Peter Cresswell, Founder of Automation Associates

Meet the founder

Peter Cresswell

Founder & Principal Consultant

Peter founded Automation Associates after more than 15 years leading engineering teams through the kind of problems most consultants only advise on from a distance. He's been embedded inside engineering organisations at McLaren Automotive, Barclays, AICPA & CIMA, Smart Pension, and Eurostar — working directly with teams to adopt AI tooling, sharpen delivery practices, and build the habits that make improvement stick.

The results speak for themselves: a 50% improvement in team velocity and 25% cost reduction at AICPA & CIMA, a department scaled from 100 to 380 engineers at Smart Pension, and VP-level transformation work across a 600-person engineering function at Barclays.

Automation Associates exists because Peter got tired of watching organisations spend money on frameworks and slide decks that nobody implemented. Every engagement is built around real change — the kind you can measure.

Get in touch

Ready to see what's really going on?

Tell us how big your engineering team is and what's not working. We'll come back with an honest answer — including a no-obligation quote for an assessment.