The need for comprehensive software ownership

In today’s world of corporate information technology, the status quo of developing new software systems, quickly stabilizing them, and then leaving them alone for years to run as-is no longer applies. This article will discuss several concerns that now require a more disciplined approach to caring for an organization’s software systems.

The number one concern on every senior leader’s mind is security. The frequent system attacks and identity thefts that we hear about in the news have created a new IT discipline for DevOps called “Vulnerability Management”. (Foreman, 2019) Application managers and owners must now be concerned with performing frequent scans of their applications and servers for newly discovered security vulnerabilities.

Although a level 1 help desk/call center may be sufficient to support the frequent but common user access issues, a concept in IT called “Technical Debt” can press the need for a sustained level 2 application support staff in addition to the development team interruptions. (Van der Ouderaa, 2018).  This technical debt could come in the form of missing reports that were never developed, a business admin screen so that super-user managers can make approved changes, or outdated or unsupported architecture. Moving to cloud infrastructure may mitigate concerns for the latter, but often much-needed features to applications were left on the chopping block for the sake of a go-live deadline. And in the meantime, support teams are left to pick up the pieces to keep the business running. An application owner needs to keep a list of these issues in backlog in order to bubble them up the priority list.

As the sheer number of systems grow in an organization, an application owner’s job is to keep track of the integration of data between them all and understand the product life cycle of each one. Are there new initiatives from the business that are bearing down on these systems? Can one or more of the existing systems handle the new requirements? Or are they at end-of-life and need to be replaced? Is it time to move the legacy systems to the cloud? (Ramchand et al, 2021)

Depending on the size of the company and the number and age of the systems, a full team of resources may be needed at the application owner’s discretion. Business analysts, system analysts, quality assurance analysts, support specialists, and yes developers may all be required to keep the systems safe, maintained, and ready for enhancements.

Organizations should take a comprehensive and active approach to caring for their full portfolio of systems.  The days of develop/purchase it and leave it are seemingly behind us. 

References:

Foreman, Park. Vulnerability Management. 2nd ed. Milton: Auerbach Publications, 2019. Print.

Ramchand Kent, Baruwal Chhetri Mohan, and Kowalczyk Ryszard. “Enterprise Adoption of Cloud Computing with Application Portfolio Profiling and Application Portfolio Assessment.” Journal of cloud computing : advances, systems and applications 10.1 (2021): 1–18. Web.

Van der Ouderaa, Edwin et al. Technical Debt Might Be Hindering Your Digital Transformation. 1st edition. MIT Sloan Management Review, 2018. Print.