YakShaver: AI-Driven Work Item Management for Developers

If you've worked on a dev team, you know how chaotic work item management can be. Meetings get derailed into bug-tracking sessions. Bug reports lack the details needed to be actionable. Work items stack up because logging them is slow. The result? A frustrating drain on valuable time and productivity.

At SSW, we saw this firsthand. As a software consultancy, our developers juggle multiple projects across different clients, making inefficiencies even more costly. Time spent logging issues across different systems quickly adds up, pulling focus away from real development work.

Beyond the obvious bottlenecks, we found deeper problems: devs struggled to decide where to log issues, struggled with inconsistent formatting standards, and relied on text-based reports that missed critical visual context. This led to unnecessary back-and-forth, delayed fixes, and, ultimately, a bloated backlog of unresolved work.

We needed a better way to capture issues without breaking focus, so we built YakShaver, a tool designed to automate work item management and keep developers in their flow.

The Solution: AI That Works Like Developers Think

YakShaver is an AI-powered assistant that lets developers log issues by simply talking. No more typing up lengthy reports, struggling with inconsistent formatting, or deciding where to log an issue. Just describe the problem, and YakShaver does the rest, ensuring that every work item is detailed, structured, and easy to act on.

✅ Record a quick screenshare and explain the issue in your own words ✅ AI extracts key details using Whisper for speech-to-text ✅ The latest GPT-4o model structures the issue with a clear title, description, and reproduction steps ✅ Automatically formats and submits to Azure DevOps, or GitHub ✅ Keeps context intact so developers get everything they need to fix it fast

YakShaver eliminates friction. It lets you capture work items effortlessly while keeping your flow state intact.

The Impact: Real Productivity Gains

We tested YakShaver in-house, and the results speak for themselves:

🚀 Developers now spend an average of just 1 minute creating work items.

📅 Meetings stay on track instead of devolving into bug-tracking

📝 Work items are richer in detail, fewer back-and-forth questions

⚡ Teams move faster, spending more time building and less time documenting

We’ve completely changed how we handle issue reporting, and we’re not going back.

Why This Matters for You

YakShaver isn’t just an internal tool. It demonstrates how AI-powered automation can reshape how businesses handle repetitive workflows.

While we initially built it for developers, the same principles apply across industries where manual processes slow down operations.

• Retail and logistics companies face stock shortages due to inefficient inventory tracking.
• Financial services spend excessive time verifying transactions, increasing errors and compliance risks.
• Healthcare organizations deal with administrative hurdles that divert attention from patient care.

AI solutions like YakShaver can eliminate these pain points by automating tedious processes, improving data accuracy, and freeing teams to focus on high-value work.

At SSW, we build AI solutions that solve real business challenges. Whether it's automating tedious tasks, improving decision-making with data-driven insights, or integrating AI into existing workflows, we help companies work smarter and focus on what matters most.

📩 Let’s build something together. Get in touch and see how AI can solve your business challenges.