Find out exactly why your engineering is slow — and what it should cost in the AI era.
Every board is asking the same question in 2026: "AI supposedly changed everything — so why is our development still slow and expensive?" In two weeks, I answer it for your company specifically. You get a written, prioritized findings report — what's solid, what's dragging, what AI-assisted development would change, and what to do first. The same review discipline I apply as a sitting CTO, pointed at your organization.
What I examine
Delivery pipeline
How work actually flows from idea to production — and where the days go to die.
Architecture drag
The design decisions quietly taxing every feature you ship.
AI leverage gap
Where AI-assisted development would cut cycle time — measured against how I ship in production, not vendor claims.
Team & process
Cadence, review culture, key-person risk, and hiring health.
Cloud & infrastructure cost
Spend vs. usage — the line items that scale into real money.
Vendor & contract exposure
The agreements quietly costing you. I review these the way I negotiate them for my own org.
What you receive
- Prioritized findings report (typically 15–25 findings) — each with impact, effort, and sequence.
- A 90-day action plan your team can execute — with or without me.
- A read-out call with your leadership team.
- Optional: negotiation asks drafted for your top vendor contract.
What the report actually looks like
Not a slide deck of generalities — a working document. Every finding lands in a prioritized table you can hand straight to your team: what it is, what it costs you, what it takes to fix, and when to do it. Here is an anonymised excerpt from a real report.
| # | Finding | Impact | Effort | Sequence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Full test suite re-runs on every commit; no caching or parallelism — ~00 min added per merge. | High | Low | Do first |
| 02 | the “███████” service has no clear owner; changes stall in review for days. | High | Med | Do first |
| 03 | Staging mirrors production 24/7 but sits idle ~80% of the week. | Med | Low | Quick win |
| 04 | No AI-assisted workflow for boilerplate, tests, or migrations — hours spent on work AI now does in minutes. | High | Med | Plan |
| 05 | Release checklist is manual, ~0 steps, run by one person — key-person risk. | Med | Med | Plan |
The report ends with exactly what I’d do next — most audits become a fix engagement or a fractional retainer.
2 weeks · fixed fee from AED 15,000 · remote or on-site (UAE)
- A sitting CTO leading a 50+ person technology organization across four production platforms — not a retired one.
- Rebuilt a production backend in days with AI-assisted development — see the case study.
- $33M+ raised across 8 markets as founder and CTO.
Common questions
Do you need code access?
Read access helps, but a useful audit is possible from architecture docs, delivery metrics, and interviews. NDA standard.
Will you pitch me a retainer?
The report stands alone. If you want ongoing help, a retainer exists — but the audit is designed to be executed without me.
What size company is this for?
5–60 engineers is the sweet spot.
Conflicts?
I don't take audit clients in e-signature, e-invoicing, POS, or the fintech verticals where I operate.
What clients say
Upwork — 100% Job Success across long-term engagements.
LinkedIn Recommendations from founders, executives, and engineers.
Two weeks to an answer your board will accept.
Start with a 20-minute scoping call — we'll confirm fit and lock the fixed fee.
I read every message and reply personally.
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