How can CEOs avoid tech debt for the tech platform?
Updated: Nov 25, 2022
Technical debt is the cost incurred when poor technical design and implementation decisions are taken to build the technology platform for the sake of moving fast in the short term instead of a better approach that would take longer but preserves the efficiency, maintainability, and sanity of the codebase.
In the absence of good technology oversight practices, a slow and steady accumulation of lousy code starts, and it gets hard to stop, as more code is written to contain the adverse effects of an existing awful code while building new features, then some more code to maintain the ever-growing mess. Maintenance becomes more complex and costlier as the codebase expands.
Critical investments in the time upfront to safeguard against the quality of the technology platform will end up paying dividends in terms of cost savings, whether the business strategy is acquisition or growth.
Following are the top areas of focus for a CEO while building the tech:
Retain CTO leadership that has a proven record in balancing speed vs. quality.
Minimum processes should be put in place from the start to provide oversight of the development process to preserve the quality of the technology platform(s) quality.
Build vs. buy/Integration approaches should be aligned with the company’s competitive strategies.
Product strategy should drive the tech strategy, not the other way around.
The ideas mentioned above are meant as information to ease your organizational processes. However, if you would like a more detailed overview, do not hesitate to reach out to me at rizwan.khan@mac.com.
I have years of experience building Technology and providing Technology Due Diligence as a CTO, and I am available for fruitful discussions.