Supporting the software after the feature — Isla Smyth
← All workApplication infrastructure · 2026

Supporting the software after the feature

Structured logging, migration tooling and shared build configuration for maintaining existing applications.

  • OpenTelemetry
  • Docker
  • PowerShell
  • CI pipelines

The context

Alongside product features, I’ve contributed the tooling that supports debugging, database changes and development across a portfolio of applications.

What I worked on

  • Introduced structured application logging with event codes, request context, trace correlation and sanitisation.
  • Added EF Core migration-artifact generation with baseline validation and forward migration SQL.
  • Consolidated shared files and build tooling across seven member sites, with a component-aware CI build matrix.
  • Configured shared development and debugging entry points for existing services.

Lessons learned

These changes make the structure of an application easier to work with: where an error came from, how a database changes, and which components need to be built.