The BA/SA role is dissolving. That's normal.
I started programming in school on a Soviet МК-61 calculator with 105 bytes of memory. The constraint shaped how I think about software — every byte mattered, every cycle mattered, and you got one shot to write it right. That instinct never left.
Over the next 14 years I worked as a business and system analyst across the European retail and banking markets. Metro Cash & Carry. MediaMarkt. Leroy Merlin. Axioma. Alfa-Bank. A stretch in iGaming compliance for European regulators. I led teams from 4 to 12 analysts. I described systems from scratch when no documentation existed, and refined documentation that had survived three architects. I deliberately chose the analyst path over development — because I believed I could write specifications precise enough that developers would just translate them into code. For a long time, that worked.
"Now the same kind of specifications are being written by AI agents inside an hour. Product managers absorb requirements work that used to need a dedicated BA. The role I built my career on is dissolving — and that's normal."
What I Write About
Roles dissolve. DBAs became SREs. Webmasters became frontend engineers. The shape changes, but the people who paid attention to craft find the next shape. I document the transition along four pillars.
The Shift
Observations on how the role is changing — what's being absorbed, by whom, when, why. Industry signals with evidence, predictions with timeframes.
Proof
Concrete AI experiments on real BA/SA work. What it can and can't do. Methodology, results, null findings. The Lab lives here.
Craft That Endures
The irreducible: system thinking, integration design, judgment calls that don't automate. The SA System Design Cycle on Medium is anchored here.
Career Navigation
Practical guidance for peers in the same transition. What to learn now, where to pivot, what the market is signalling.
How I Work
Documentation-first. Docs-as-code where it fits. Requirements engineering treated as engineering: versioned, reviewed, testable. Methods chosen for the problem — BPMN where flows matter, C4 where boundaries matter, ERD/UML where data matters — rather than for ceremony.
Mentorship
I have mentored ~15 mid-level analysts since 2022 — moving them junior → mid-senior by codifying the tacit parts of the craft into reusable artifacts. If the transition this site documents matters to you and you want a peer to think it through with, the contact channels are here.
Languages
Russian (native) · English (B2)