Technical debt and value
Consider 5 scenarios for product development and maintenance.
They vary in the initial investment in quality (and the effect on technical debt) and the investment in preventing incidents when the product is in use (and the effect on the cost of dealing with incidents as well as the value as perceived by both the users and the professionals who are tasked with operations, maintenance, and enhancement.
The higher the initial investment, the lower the technical debt, but for a given size of technical debt, the direct financial costs of preventing incidents by searching for and reparing defects, versus the cost of dealing with incidents, is more or less the same; but incidents detract from the value of the product for all stakeholders. This includes value in use (productivity, security, privacy), sales value, reputation, employee experience (both users and professionals), maintainability/adaptability. Technical debt is therefore more about value than direct financial cost.
This is a simplified model, and real-world scenarios are more complex and nuanced. However, prioritizing quality from the outset and addressing technical debt can be a more sustainable and valuable approach in the long run.
Discuss.
ITSM RESULTant and expert, senior advisor. Leading your transformation. Focus on customer value and people. Chief architect of The ISM Method.
1 年Organizational Debt precedes Technical Debt, don’t you think. I completely agree that Technical Debt is more about value than direct financial cost. But the cause of technical debt is almost always organizational debt. So it’s all about choices. The investment in technical debt is driven by the desire to realize customer value. ?You can’t reduce technical debt without focusing on the way you organize your work in a result oriented way. ??
Retired after 53 years in IT. Industry Ambassador for itSMF UK. Paul Rappaport Lifetime Achievement Award 2025. Volunteer for Demelza Children Hospice. (Please read ABOUT b4 asking to link)
1 年Once the culture of Ship first, then Fix can be overcome, then managers will see the significance of your statement.
Service Manager | Service Delivery Manager | ITIL4 Strategic Leader | ITIL4 Managing Professional | Service Operations
1 年We live in a world where organisation measure everything in ￡. Irrespectively whether it is evident that the created technical debt will be only increased by not driving the improvements and sustainability initiatives, we can find organisations are reluctant to deal with the root cause of incidents and focus on the delivery of as many new services/products and the derived profit, as short term revenue is more appealing to sustainable, optimised and stable solutions.