Senior Technical Business Analyst and AI specialist, delivering enterprise software with the AI-Driven Development Lifecycle.
I'm Drew Salem, a Senior Technical Business Analyst and technology consultant based on the Gold Coast, working across Brisbane, Australia and remotely. For more than 25 years I've taken complex programmes from discovery and requirements through integration, data and delivery in energy, oil and gas, defence logistics, government, manufacturing and e-commerce. I also deliver the AI-Driven Development Lifecycle (AI-DLC), and I created the Instant Framework, the free method that makes it safe for enterprise.
- 25+ years
- across energy, oil and gas, defence logistics, government, manufacturing and e-commerce
- Requirements to production
- discovery, requirements, integration, data and delivery assurance
- Days, not months
- from requirements to tested enterprise software with the AI-DLC
Senior Technical Business Analyst
I started as a database and integration developer, then worked as an integration architect and technology leader before moving into technical business analysis. That background means I can follow a requirement all the way into the data, the integrations and the code, and know when the answer is right.
From discovery to signed-off requirements
Discovery through stakeholder workshops and interviews, requirements elicitation and traceability, current and future-state process models (BPMN), business rules and decision models, user stories, data flow and system interaction diagrams, and UAT.
From options to a solution that holds
Solution design, platform and vendor evaluation, data migration, integration design, delivery assurance and business cases, in Agile and traditional programmes.
Tools and platforms include SQL Server, Oracle, Snowflake, Databricks, Power BI, SAP, Oracle e-Business Suite (eAMS), WellView, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Dell Boomi, Jira and Confluence, as well as Claude Code, LLMs, RAG and AI agents. More about my technical business analysis work.
What the AI-Driven Development Lifecycle is
The AI-Driven Development Lifecycle is an open-source method published by AWS. Most organisations now use AI as a coding assistant inside their usual delivery process, so the process stays the same and so does the timeline. The AI-DLC changes the process itself.
AI-assisted development
- Developers use AI to write code faster.
- Requirements, design, testing and approvals still move through the usual handoffs.
- Delivery still takes months.
AI-driven development
- The AI carries every stage: requirements, design, code and tests.
- Your business experts sit in one room, answer its questions and make every decision on the spot.
- A working, tested application in days, signed off on evidence before it goes live.
Speed alone isn't enough for an enterprise. Requirements, architecture, data, security and sign-off still have to be right, which is where business analysis matters most. That's why I built the Instant Framework.
The Instant Framework: the method I created to make the AI-DLC enterprise-safe
Recognising that the Agile framework is not fit for purpose for AI-driven delivery, I created Instant: a free, openly licensed playbook for building enterprise software with the AI-DLC. It sets out who needs to be in the room, what happens at each stage, and how the business checks and signs off the result. Every Falcra engagement follows it.
Business-led
Your experts decide and sign, not developers alone. A business owner and a technical owner sign an evidence pack before go-live.
No AI guesswork
Everything the AI states is traced to a source: an approved requirement, the code or the running application. Anything it can't verify is flagged for your people to confirm.
Enterprise decisions up front
Data audit levels, security constraints and risk tiers are settled at the start, not discovered at go-live.
Review that keeps pace
Risk tiers set how much human review each part gets, so AI-written code is checked where it matters.
Documented properly
Information and Data Models are produced from the built application, from evidence, for architects and DBAs.
No lock-in
Once built, the application has no dependency on the AI-DLC or AWS. You own the code and the data.
Two ways to work with me
I can work inside your programme as a contract Senior Technical Business Analyst, or bring the AI-DLC into your organisation through Falcra.
Senior Technical Business Analyst
Discovery, requirements, process and data analysis, integration, platform evaluation and delivery assurance on complex programmes, with the option to prove ideas in working software fast.
Discuss a contract roleAn AI-DLC build with your team
A day of training, then the build: Falcra trains your people on a sample project, then builds a real application of yours in a few days in one room with them, so they can keep building this way. You end up with the application and the capability to build the next one.
Falcra: AI-DLC consultancyAI builds fast. Someone has to know it's right.
An AI can write software in hours. Knowing whether the requirements are right, the integrations hold, the data can be trusted and the result is safe to release takes experience across the whole lifecycle.
I started as a database and integration developer, designed enterprise integration architecture, led technology and development teams, and now work as a Senior Technical Business Analyst on safety-critical, regulator-visible systems. I've worked on every side of a delivery, which is what directing an AI through one demands.
Selected work: business analysis, data and AI delivery
Well Integrity Management System
Led discovery and requirements for a safety-critical, regulator-visible system: mapped the business rules, risk decision logic, integrations and data flows across WIMS, WellView, SAP and other platforms. Showed the root causes were governance, ownership and workflow, and reframed a software upgrade into an enterprise transformation. The entire application was then rebuilt in about four days with the AI-DLC, directed and approved by the well integrity engineers and the Technical Authority, and is now in production.
WellView platform upgrade
Led the business and technical stream moving the source of truth for thousands of wells from a self-hosted environment to Peloton's WellView Allez SaaS platform, including repointing integrations with OFM, Snowflake, Profisee MDM, ArcGIS and Power BI, and training engineers on site.
Oracle eAMS migration
Assessed SAP, Snowflake and AWS options for 3TB+ of asset data, then designed and delivered the migration of more than three million attachments to Amazon S3, work two teams had judged too complex.
Machine learning well-analogue proof of concept
Turned a well-impairment problem across 1,900+ workovers into a validated machine learning proof of concept, business case and pathway to production with data scientists and engineers.
Defence accreditation and sovereign hosting
As Senior Consultant, Data & Technology, supported the DISP accreditation uplift and the migration of Azure services to Australian sovereign hosting.
Enterprise Data Hub
Designed and delivered a governed hub integrating SAP, GIS, SCADA, CRM, HR and Finance, replacing point-to-point integrations, and chaired the company's Data Management Community of Practice.
E-commerce and national delivery
As Head of IT Development, led requirements and delivery of a CMS-based e-commerce platform serving 1.6 million customers and 100,000+ weekly orders, and an Android delivery system for 350+ drivers.
Working demos built with AI-driven development
Each of these was built with AI-driven development, from requirements to working software. Open the web demos on a desktop browser.
Well Integrity Management System demo
For a fictional 340-well gas operator: traffic light risk classification, regulatory deadlines, integrity assessments and an AI assistant. Every screen maps to a numbered business requirement.
Open the WIMS demoMortgage Freedom Tracker
A commercial app taken from concept to Google Play in about two weeks. A less capable app I commissioned from an agency in a previous role took six months and cost more than A$120,000.
Mortgage Freedom Tracker on Google PlayLumen AI business intelligence demo
An AI layer for a fictional apparel label, built with React and the Claude API: a morning brief, plain-English answers about products, customers and performance, and drafted messages, all grounded in data you can inspect.
Open the Lumen demoExperience and education
- 2026 – nowFalcra
Founder; creator of the Instant Framework - 2024 – nowOrigin Energy (APLNG)
Senior Technical Business Analyst, contract - 2023Depth Defence Logistics
Senior Consultant, Data & Technology - 2018 – 2023100 Acts of Kindness (charity)
Founder, film producer, cinematographer and motion graphics designer. Australian Citizen of the Year 2021 nominee (Scenic Rim); winner of the 2020 Wright Electorate Community Contribution Award. - 2016 – 2019Lite n' Easy
Head of IT Development (Applications, Infrastructure & Data) - 2010 – 2015Arrow Energy (Shell & PetroChina JV)
Senior Data Integration and Reporting Lead - 2005 – 2009Harrogate Borough Council (UK)
Senior Database Integration Developer & Administrator - 2001 – 2005Shanks Waste Services (UK)
Database Administrator & Business Technician - EducationThe Open University
BSc (Open), 2008. HNC in Computing (BTEC), 2005.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Drew Salem based?
On the Gold Coast, Queensland. He works across Brisbane, the rest of Australia and remotely.
Is Drew available for contract Technical Business Analyst roles?
Yes. He is available for contract Senior Technical Business Analyst roles, and for AI-DLC engagements through Falcra.
What is the AI-DLC?
The AI-Driven Development Lifecycle is an open-source software delivery method published by AWS. The AI carries every stage from requirements to tested software, while the organisation's people direct it and make every decision.
What is the Instant Framework?
A free, openly licensed playbook Drew created for building enterprise software with the AI-DLC, covering business-led sign-off, sourced claims, risk tiers, up-front security and data decisions, and an evidence pack signed before go-live.
Contact Drew Salem
Available for contract Senior Technical Business Analyst roles and AI-DLC engagements. Based on the Gold Coast, working across Brisbane, Australia and remotely. Tell me what you're working on and I'll come back to you to arrange a time to talk.