Software Factory

01Summary

The short version

What you get

A working factory on your own systems
A control room to see every job
Safety rules that keep people in charge
A ten-week pilot on your real work
Training, a guide and 30 days of support

Your software team has more work than time. Small fixes wait for weeks. Updates pile up. People spend their days on jobs that are important but slow.

The Software Factory is a team of AI helpers that works through that list for you. It plans each job, writes the code, runs your tests, and has a second AI check the work. Then it hands the finished job to your team to approve.

Simple, low-risk jobs can go live on their own, but only after they have earned it with your team. Anything risky, like your data, payments or servers, always needs a person.

We set it up on your own systems in ten weeks, test it on your real work, and hand it over with training.

Key facts

10weeks

from signing to a working pilot on your own work

R 685 000

fixed price, paid in three parts as you accept the work

Your cloud

it runs on your own systems, so your code stays with you

Every step

is recorded, so you can always see who did what, and why

02The problem

The work that never gets done

Every software team has a long list of small jobs. They are not exciting, but they matter.

01
Updates
The building blocks your software uses need regular updates, often for security. Each one takes time to test.
02
Small bugs
Little problems that annoy customers wait behind bigger work, sometimes for months.
03
Missing tests
Parts of the code have no automatic checks, so every change there is a risk.
04
Notes and guides
Instructions for the next person are out of date or were never written.

The Software Factory takes this list off your team’s desk, and does it the same careful way every time.

03How it works

Seven steps for every job

Every job goes through the same seven steps. People can step in at the start and before anything goes live (the amber steps). If a test fails or the reviewer finds a problem, the job goes back to step 3 with the reason.

A person can step inBack to step 3 with the reason

AskA person can step in
Someone writes what they need in plain words, or the job comes from your work list.
Plan
The AI writes a short plan. A checker reads the plan before any code is written.
Build
AI builders write the code. Each job gets its own safe copy of your code to work in.
Test
Your own automatic tests run. If a test fails, the job goes back with the reason.
Review
A second AI, from a different company, checks the work. It never sees how the first AI thought.
ReleaseA person can step in
The job is ready for your team to approve. Some simple jobs can go live on their own.
Watch
After it goes live, the factory checks that all is well. If not, it puts back the last good version.

Seven parts, one factory

No.	Part	What it does	How you will see it working
01	Planner	Turns a request into a short written plan: the steps, the order and what could go wrong. If the request is not clear, it asks a question first.	You can read the plan before any work starts.
02	Builders	AI helpers that write the code. Each one works in its own safe copy of your code, so jobs never get in each other’s way.	Two jobs run side by side without touching each other.
03	Automatic checks	Runs your tests and builds your software on every change, the same way every time. A test result is a fact, not an opinion.	A change that breaks a test is stopped and sent back with the error.
04	Second-opinion reviewer	A second AI, from a different company, checks every change for mistakes, security holes and risks to personal information.	Every change shows what the reviewer found, down to the exact line.
05	Control room	A screen that shows every job, where it is, what it cost and why it passed or failed. It also keeps spending inside the limits you set.	You can open any job and see its full story.
06	Release and undo	Puts approved work live, checks that all is well, and puts back the last good version by itself if something goes wrong.	In testing, a broken change is undone with no one touching it.
07	Safety rules	Hard rules, written into the factory’s code, about what it may never touch and what always needs a person.	An attempt to touch a protected area is stopped and written in the log.

04Trust

You decide what it may do on its own

Every kind of work starts at Level 1. It moves up only when the numbers show it has earned it, and only when you say so.

Level 1

Helper

The factory does the work. A person on your team approves every change before it goes live.

Every kind of work starts here
Level 2

Trusted

For simple, low-risk work, the factory can put the change live by itself, once every test and check has passed.

Good first choices: updates, new tests, notes and guides, and wording changes.

Only the kinds of work you choose
Level 3

Wider trust

More kinds of work become Trusted as they prove themselves on your real work.

A kind of work moves up only when 95 out of every 100 changes passed your team’s review without fixes, four weeks in a row.

You approve every move up

One rule for every kind of work. Work either goes live on its own after every check, or it waits for a person. There is no half-way setting to forget about. And nobody may approve a change they asked for themselves.

The never-list

These always need a person

Written into the factory's own code. The AI cannot change it. Your team can add to it.

Enforced in code

01Changes to how your database is builtLocked
02Deleting any dataLocked
03Payments, billing and pricesLocked
04Servers, hosting and who has accessLocked
05Passwords, keys and other secretsLocked

05Security

Safe, recorded and in your control

How your code, your data and your people stay safe.

Week 1

Your security team signs off first. In week 1 we complete your company’s security questionnaire and meet your security lead. Nothing touches your systems until your security lead has signed off.

It runs on your own systems
The factory is set up in your own cloud account (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud). Your code does not leave your control.
Your code is not used to train AI
We only use AI services whose business terms say they do not train their models on your data. We list each service for you before we start.
Secrets stay secret
Passwords and keys are kept in your own secure store. The AI never sees them, and the factory cannot change them.
Your company sign-in
People sign in with the work account they already use (single sign-on). You decide who can view, who can approve and who can change the rules.
A full record of every step
Every plan, change, test, review, approval and undo is saved with the time and the person or AI that did it. You can export it for your auditors.
Personal information is protected
The work follows South Africa’s POPI Act and, where it applies, Europe’s GDPR. The reviewer looks for personal information risks on every change.
Spending limits
Each job and each day has a spending limit. The factory stops when it reaches one and tells you.
Safety rules in code
The never-list is enforced by the factory’s own code. The AI cannot talk its way around it.

06Working together

How we work together

06.1

Roles

1 of 4

Role	From	What they do
Your sponsor	Your team	A senior person who owns the result. Signs off each milestone and chairs the steering meeting.
Your technical owner	Your team	Knows your code and systems. About two hours a week: answers questions and reviews the factory’s work.
Your security lead	Your team	Checks the setup against your security rules in week 1 and approves access.
Our delivery lead	Ikigai ADE	Your one point of contact at Ikigai ADE. Runs the plan, the weekly report and the meetings.
Our engineering team	Ikigai ADE	Builds, tests and sets up the factory on your systems, and trains your team.

06.2

Meetings and reports

2 of 4

Weekly check-in
Every week, 30 minutes
What we did, what is next, and anything we need from you.
Written weekly report
Every Friday
Progress against the plan, risks, decisions, and spend. One page.
Steering meeting
Every two weeks, 45 minutes
Your sponsor and our delivery lead review progress and make the big decisions.

06.3

How you accept each milestone

3 of 4

1
When a milestone is ready, we show it to you working, on your systems.
2
You have five working days to accept it or tell us, in writing, what is missing.
3
If something is missing, we fix it and show you again, at no extra cost.
4
A milestone is accepted when your sponsor signs it off. Then we invoice that part.

Changes to the scope. If you want to add or change something, we write it down as a change request with its cost and its effect on the dates. Work on it starts only after you sign it. Nothing is added to your bill without your signature.

06.4

After go-live

4 of 4

30 days of support after the pilot is included in the price.

After that, Factory Care keeps the factory healthy: we watch it, update it, add new kinds of work, and send a monthly report. You can stop Factory Care with one month’s notice.

Priority	For example	We answer
Urgent	The factory has stopped, or something is live that should not be	Within 2 office hours
High	A part of the factory is not working, but jobs can still be done by hand	Within 1 working day
Normal	A question, a small fault or a request for a change	Within 3 working days

Office hours are Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00, South African time, not counting public holidays.

07Plan

Ten weeks, five milestones

Five milestones. Each one ends with something you can see working. The amber diamonds show where your sponsor signs off.

Milestone

W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10

Each milestone in detail

1 / 5

Milestone 1Week 1

Discovery

We study your code, your tests and how you release software. We meet your security lead. Together we choose the first kinds of work and agree the never-list.

Done when

Your sponsor signs off the factory plan, the security setup, the kinds of work and the never-list.

Milestone 2Weeks 2–3

Foundations

We set up the safe workspaces, the control room, the spending limits and your company sign-in. We connect your own tests.

Done when

A sample job runs from start to finish in a safe copy, and every step shows in the record.

Milestone 3Weeks 4–5

Build and check

The planner, the builders and the second-opinion reviewer start working together on your code.

Done when

12 real jobs from your work list each come back ready to review, with test results and the reviewer’s findings.

Milestone 4Week 6

Release and undo

We set up the path to going live, the live checks and the automatic undo. We test the safety rules by trying to break them.

Done when

A broken change is caught and undone in testing, and a blocked action shows in the record.

Milestone 5Weeks 7–10

Pilot

The factory works on your real list. At first your team approves everything. Then the kinds of work you choose can become Trusted. You get a report every week.

Done when

We hand you the pilot report: jobs done, pass rates, cost per job, and our advice on what to trust next.

What you receive at the end

01The working factory on your own systems
02The control room and the full record of every job
03A plain-English guide for running it
04Your safety rules and never-list, written down
05Two training sessions for your team
0630 days of support after the pilot

08Investment

One fixed price, paid as you accept the work

You pay for each part only after your sponsor accepts the work it covers.

Total fixed price

R 685 000

Part	When you pay	Amount
Discovery and foundations (milestones 1 and 2)	30% when you sign	R 205 500
Build, check, release and undo (milestones 3 and 4)	40% when milestone 4 is accepted	R 274 000
Pilot and handover (milestone 5)	30% when the pilot report is accepted	R 205 500
Total fixed price		R 685 000

Running costs each month

Item	What it covers	Per month
AI services	About 150 jobs a week, paid by you directly to the AI companies	About R 15 000
Cloud hosting	The safe workspaces and the control room, on your own cloud account	About R 6 000
Factory Care (optional)	Watching, updates, new kinds of work, a monthly report and the support times above	R 42 000

Terms, in plain words

01
All prices are in South African rand and do not include VAT.
02
Invoices are paid within 30 days.
03
This scope is signed together with a services agreement that covers the legal terms.
04
This offer is open until 19 November 2026.

09The film

Watch the factory at work

1:001920 × 1080

10Scope details

The details, in plain words

10.1What we need from you

01
Access to your code and a test copy of your systems (often called staging)
02
A technical owner for about two hours a week
03
A sponsor who can sign off each milestone
04
Your security lead in week 1
05
12 to 20 real jobs from your work list for the pilot
06
Answers to our questions within two working days
07
Accounts in your name for the AI services and cloud hosting, so you pay them directly and see every cost

10.2Not included

Rebuilding or redesigning your existing software
Fixing tests or builds that are already broken before we start. We list them in week 1 and give you a separate price if you want us to fix them
The running costs of AI services and hosting (shown under Investment)
Publishing mobile apps to the app stores
Support outside office hours (Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00, South African time)

10.3What we assume

01
Your code is kept in Git (for example GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket or Azure DevOps).
02
Your tests and your build can run on a computer without a person present.
03
You have a test copy of your systems. If you do not, we set one up in weeks 2–3 and the plan grows by one week.
04
The dates start on the day we receive access, not the day the scope is signed.

10.4How we measure success

Five numbers, reported every week. We confirm these targets with you in week 1.

Measure	What it tells you	Pilot target
First-time pass	Jobs that pass your tests and the second-opinion review on the first try	70 out of 100 or more
Approved without fixes	Changes your team approves without asking for changes	80 out of 100 or more
Request to ready	Time from a request to a change that is ready for your team	Same working day
Cost per job	AI and hosting cost, divided by the jobs your team approved	Under R 60
Problems that got through	Live problems from factory work that the automatic undo did not catch	Zero

10.5What could go wrong

Risk	How we guard against it
A bad plan spoils every step after it	A checker reads every plan before any code is written.
The AI marks its own homework	Your tests decide pass or fail. The reviewer is a different AI that never sees the builder’s thinking.
Something is done that cannot be undone	The never-list is enforced in code. Anything on it needs a person, every time.
Costs run away	Spending limits per job and per day. The factory stops at a limit and tells you.
Jobs get in each other’s way	Every job works in its own safe copy, and one control room decides the order.
Your tests do not cover enough	The factory is only as safe as your tests. In week 1 we show you where tests are thin. That code stays at Level 1 until tests are added.

10.6What is yours, and what is ours

Yours

Everything we make for your code: the safety rules, the checks, the settings and the guides
The full record of every job, plan, review and report
Your code and your data, which stay in your accounts and are never shared

Ours

The Software Factory engine itself, which you may use for as long as our agreement runs
General improvements to that engine, which reach you as free updates

11Words we use

Words we use

Every technical word in this scope, explained in plain English.

Find a word

AI

Artificial intelligence: computer programs that can read, write and reason about text and code.

Backlog or work list

The list of jobs your software team has not done yet.

Code

The written instructions that make your software work.

Test

A small program that checks a part of your software still works. It passes or fails.

Build

Turning code into working software. If the build fails, something is broken.

Review

A careful check of a change by someone, or something, that did not write it.

Release or go live

Putting a change into the software your customers use.

Undo (rollback)

Putting back the last version that worked, when a new change causes a problem.

Safe copy (branch)

A separate copy of your code where a job can be done without touching the real thing.

Test copy (staging)

A copy of your systems used for testing, so the real ones are never at risk.

Kind of work (lane)

A group of similar jobs, like updates or small bug fixes. Each kind has its own level of trust.

Trusted (autopilot)

A kind of work that has earned the right to go live without a person approving each change.

Never-list

Work the factory must never do without a person, whatever happens.

Single sign-on

Signing in with your normal work account, so you do not need a new password.

Record (audit trail)

A saved list of every step, with the time and who or what did it.

Cloud account

Your company’s space with a cloud company such as Microsoft, Amazon or Google.

Pilot

A trial on your real work, for a set time, to prove it works before you use it fully.

Your software work, done day and night.

The short version

The work that never gets done

Updates

Small bugs

Missing tests

Notes and guides

Seven steps for every job

AskA person can step in

Plan

Build

Test

Review

ReleaseA person can step in

Watch

Seven parts, one factory

You decide what it may do on its own

Helper

Trusted

Wider trust

These always need a person

Safe, recorded and in your control

It runs on your own systems

Your code is not used to train AI

Secrets stay secret

Your company sign-in

A full record of every step

Personal information is protected

Spending limits

Safety rules in code

How we work together

Weekly check-in

Written weekly report

Steering meeting

Ten weeks, five milestones

Discovery

Foundations

Build and check

Release and undo

Pilot

What you receive at the end

One fixed price, paid as you accept the work

Running costs each month

Terms, in plain words

Watch the factory at work

The details, in plain words

10.1What we need from you

10.2Not included

10.3What we assume

10.4How we measure success

10.5What could go wrong

10.6What is yours, and what is ours

Words we use

Ten weeks to a working pilot.