Managing Technical Debt 💡

I recently did a post on technical debt and the challenges it creates for the management of Digital services, well I thought I would post how to effectively manage this debt. I am fortunate to currently work in a department that understands the severity of this challenge and we are in the process of tackling this debt together 👊🏻

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We’ve all been there – tight deadlines, pressure to deliver, and the allure of a quick solution to keep things moving. But what happens when those shortcuts come back to bite us? That’s where technical debt comes in – a silent disruptor that can erode agility, inflate costs, and frustrate teams if left unchecked.

📈 By 2027, it’s expected that 80% of all technical debt will be architectural, a significant leap from today’s 30% (A Gartner Study). Why? AI tools are getting better at cleaning up code-level and application-level debt, leaving the spotlight on architecture-level challenges. This shift makes it critical for organisations to address this head-on.

🔑 Key Insights:

• Most digital teams struggle to prioritise and reduce technical debt – often because it’s not treated as a strategic priority or visibility of it doesn’t get surfaced to your customers.
• Neglecting it leads to spiralling costs, reduced agility, and unstable performance – not to mention headaches for operational digital teams and stakeholders alike.
• Your operational teams are the most valuable for tracking and tackling this debt. They are at the coal face and have first hand experience of this technical debt impact.

So, how to tackle this effectively?

3 Steps to Tame the Debt:

1️⃣ Make it a priority

Align stakeholders, product & operational teams and Digital leaders under a shared vision. Establish a guiding coalition to embed technical debt management into product/service roadmaps and make sure continual service improvement has a prime seat in your digital strategy.

2️⃣ Measure and monitor

Use tools to identify and visualise debt. Convert the impact into tangible business metrics that resonate with leadership – nothing grabs attention like a cost-risk trade-off. Have a “debt budget” and each technical debt is given a score and this adds to an overall technical debt, then report on where this stacks up against the debt budget, this helps quantify to leadership the current debt in your service estate and it overall service health.

3️⃣ Take action

Prioritise high-impact items and take steps to shift from a reactive approach to technical debt towards a proactive management strategy. For instance, consider Windows 11. It may not be technical debt yet, but without preparation, it soon could be. Service improvement initiatives deserve the same priority and weighting as capital projects; otherwise, the debt will continue to pile up unchecked.

Embedding debt remediation into your strategy is critical—and don’t forget to celebrate the wins along the way to maintain momentum. One approach I’ve successfully implemented in the past is a time-limited initiative called “Technical Debt Wednesdays”. This dedicated day focused teams on clearing accumulated technical debt, paving the way for sustainable, proactive debt management practices moving forward.

💬 Here’s a thought experiment: If your Digital platforms were a house, would you rather patch the cracks now or wait until the foundation gives way? It’s the same with technical debt – fixing it early saves you from future firefighting.

The good news? With the right approach, these challenges can be mitigated. Let’s continue treating technical debt like the strategic priority it is. 🚀

#TechnicalDebt #ArchitectureDebt #ITIL4  #Agility #Innovation #DigitalStrategy #CSI