A unique methodology by The Value Hub, turning business vision into AI-powered innovation
by Pieter Baerts & Febe De Winter
Today, many teams are experimenting with building software using AI and LLMs. Prompt in, code out. But anyone who tried this knows reality often falls short: messy code, security issues, vulnerabilities, or simply an app that doesn’t do what you expected.
You rarely get a result you can actually build on. Agile best practices – like working iteratively and incrementally towards a product that solves real business problems and excites users – often fade into the background.
That’s where BASIL (Business & AI Software Innovation Loop) comes in. It provides a structured methodology: a loop that starts from business scenarios and leverages AI for the heavy lifting of prototyping, development, and testing. With checkpoints and human feedback along the way, BASIL delivers a controlled version of “vibe coding”, but with quality, reliability, and documentation built in.
Important sidenote: BASIL is tooling-agnostic. It’s a methodology, not a tool or subscription. You’re not locked into any single AI model or platform.
Where business and AI meet
With BASIL, non-technical profiles (business analysts, product owners, product managers) no longer need to delegate their ideas away to developers. Their vision can be translated directly into working software, without detours, compromises, or misinterpretation.
For organizations, this means faster prototyping and faster go-to-market, while spending less time actually developing, testing and documenting.
The key? BDD (Behavior-Driven Development) scenarios as guardrails.
What’s written in natural language is automatically converted into tests by AI. Every generated feature must pass those tests, making quality a built-in certainty instead of a lucky accident.
Moreover, BASIL works feature by feature, incrementally. This keeps the AI context focused and reduces the risk of hallucinations.
How the BASIL Loop works
The loop consists of clear steps with checkpoints and feedback loops:
- Feature definition
An analyst writes out the feature and scenarios. - Feature refinement
Validate the wording with AI and add edge cases. - UI design
Describe how the solution should look and feel. - UI draft
AI generates the first version of the frontend code. - Review loop
Assess the design and adjust. - Test generation
AI generates test code. - Coding
AI finalizes the frontend and builds the backend (incl. API, DB, migrations). - Test execution
Run tests. If they fail, return to step 6.
The result? A new feature that isn’t just working, but tested, reliable, and documented.
The impact of BASIL on the SDLC
#1 Faster product discovery
With BASIL, you can validate ideas much faster during a discovery sprint.
For example: A product owner wants to test a new onboarding flow. Instead of waiting weeks for development, you now simply describe the desired scenarios. Within no time, you have an AI-generated prototype, including tests. Business users can give feedback right away, helping make the right decisions faster.
And (even more) importantly: that prototype doesn’t have to be thrown away and rebuilt. With BASIL, it can grow into an MVP, a beta version, and even production.
#2 Shorter feedback loops
Because BASIL uses automated tests from day one, every step is validated immediately. Bugs or misinterpretations are caught early. This makes it possible to work iteratively – the way agile was meant to be – without AI’s speed leading to chaos or instability.
#3 Innovation cycle
In an innovation lab or sandbox setting, BASIL allows you to quickly test alternative designs, business rules, or integrations. You can, for example, generate three variations of a checkout flow and have real users test them immediately. Experimentation becomes cheap and low-risk.
#4 Legacy replacement
BASIL is also powerful in digital transformation projects. Imagine an old application with missing documentation. By explicitly writing out business scenarios and running them through BASIL, you can rebuild step by step. Every step is tested and documented, enabling you to gradually – but safely – replace legacy systems.
This way, documentation becomes more than a reference, it’s the true source code of your organization. The logic, processes, and business rules you capture are more valuable than the code itself.
Code can be replaced tomorrow, but knowledge remains.
Skills shift & value first
With BASIL – Business & AI Software Innovation Loop – , the center of gravity in software development shifts to the business. Vision and requirements come from product owners or analysts, while AI relieves the burden of technical execution.
The result? Software that isn’t just technologically advanced, but directly delivers value to the business.
Or, as we like to put it:
BASIL. Where Business meets AI to build the future.