In the Loop - AI-Powered Software Migration with Olly Brand from The Collecting Group

# AI-Powered Software Migration: From 4 Devs & 6 Weeks to 1 Dev & 4 Weeks

**TL;DR:** Olly Brand (CTO, Collecting Cars) shares how his team used AI-assisted development tools to successfully migrate from PHP 7.3 to 8.3 - a task that previously failed with 4 developers over 6 weeks, but succeeded with just 1 principal engineer in 4 weeks using Claude 3.7 and Cursor.

## Chapters

00:00 Intro
03:45 The PHP 7.3 to 8.3 Migration Challenge
08:00 First Attempt: 4 Developers, 6 Weeks, Failed
11:30 The Testing Infrastructure That Made It Possible
12:50 Why This Migration Worked With AI
14:30 Security & Risk Management Considerations
19:15 Team Adoption: Volunteers Over Mandates
25:00 Productivity Gains Across the Business
28:50 Security Research & Decision Making
32:15 The Competitive Advantage of AI Skills
33:30 Executive Buy-in & Company-wide Adoption
36:15 Key Success Factors Summary

## Key Highlights

**🚀 The Challenge**
- Stuck on unsupported PHP 7.3 (major security risk)
- Previous attempt in 2023: 4 developers, 6 weeks, failed to complete
- Complex hybrid monolith with microservices, React, Next.js

**💡 The AI Solution**
- Gradual adoption: GitHub Copilot → Cursor with Claude 3.7
- 80% of migration code written by AI, guided by principal engineer Matt
- Zero bugs found during staging testing

**📊 Productivity Gains**
- 20% productivity boost with Copilot
- 30% of total codebase now AI-generated
- Saved 50+ hours on email writing alone

**🛠️ Success Factors**
1. **Experience matters**: Senior engineer got maximum leverage from AI tools
2. **Robust testing**: Cypress end-to-end + unit testing provided safety net
3. **Gradual adoption**: 18 months with Copilot, 4 months with Cursor before big project
4. **Team buy-in**: Pilot program with volunteers, not mandates

**⚠️ Key Warnings**
- Don't use for mission-critical systems (aircraft/helicopter software)
- "Garbage in, garbage out" - requires skilled developers
- AI tools augment, don't replace human expertise
- Security considerations essential for IP protection

**🔮 Looking Forward**
- Experimenting with Claude 4, Gemini 2.5 Pro
- Agentic AI not quite ready for complex refactoring
- AI skills becoming foundational like remote work skills

**Perfect for:** CTOs, engineering managers, and developers considering AI-assisted development tools for legacy system migrations and productivity improvements.

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*Want to tackle your own legacy migration with AI? Connect with HYPR hello@hyprinnovation.io

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