Tackling Tech Debt
If you’re asked as a human being – what do you want to spend money on – everyone would go for the shiny new thing. Be it a new kitchen, a car, comfy sofa – as people we’re driven to making decisions based on what value we will get from that purchase vs what will happen if we don’t fix the leaky roof. The same is true in business – the same human drivers are in place and the result is decisions which don’t always support long term business goals.
New interior trends
Undoubtedly trends drive adoption. 20 years ago a kitchen island wasn’t a feature but nowadays, many homes have one. In tech purchasing, cloud is one example, virtualisation another – trends that dominate purchasing decisions and come in waves of popularity and adoption. 5 years ago if you were a CIO without a cloud strategy you’d likely be out of a job. But making decisions in haste might mean businesses ended up with technology they regret, that doesn’t deliver on the promised value – the equivalent of an avocado bathroom suite.
Old processes and a leaky roof
Maintaining and ignoring the legacy technology is the equivalent of not repairing the leak in the roof but instead painting over the damp patch that it’s causing. Organisations end up with the same problem but aren’t examining or sorting out the issue that’s causing it in the first place.
Trending
At the heart of this is always tech debt. The problem is organisations are spending a disproportionate amount of their budget managing this debt: old tech, cumbersome processes, slow refreshes. Picking up the cloud example – for many it promised the end of tech debt, but it hasn’t transpired. Now businesses have new tech debt, waste, as technology has been provisioned and forgotten and the same old processes continue to be followed. No-one wanted to be a cloud detractor because they’re seen as a laggard. So, some signed up to massive cloud contracts that they don’t consume. They never thought about the way out when they were on the way in.
Tech debt can build up because decisions are driven by FOMO, rather than a business case for ROI. It’s easier to show a saving and derive value on something that’s recently been installed, but this year’s shiny new installation is next year’s tech debt. It takes up a huge proportion of an organisation’s budget. According to figures from McKinsey & Company, 40% of an IT team’s budget is spent on tech debt. That means every year there’s a staggering amount wasted on maintaining old technology. Without proper planning, the knock on impact is ever decreasing value and innovation.
Deploy the best architects and designers
How should organisations control and minimise tech debt? Put their best, most talented people on the case. Don’t stop investment in new technology – but consider if the shiny new installation will do what it promises in 1, 3, or 5 years time – does it really take any pain away? Make this a core business initiative and make it clear that the team working on this are highly trusted and vital. They will need to plan ahead, build a robust ROI plan, don’t leave decision making too late and get forced into making short term tactical decisions that cost more. It’s always going to be more fun to buy a new sofa than it is to clean the gutters. But if you don’t do it, you have a big problem in the long term.
Do you need the next big thing?
Just like fashion trends that come around again, in tech, the next big thing is often the same old thing. The next journey customers are embarking on is containers and bare metal, and how they can remove virtualisation from their estate. In order to take advantage of this, organisations need to be agile, without the burden of tech debt and with budget available to invest. By all means, tech leaders should explore new fashions, but to ensure success they need to have a clear understanding of business goals and how trends will help achieve them, including a roadmap, SWOT analysis, exit plan etc. And guess what – colourful bathroom sinks are rising in popularity again. We don’t expect to see a full 80’s style revival – but a nod to the principles.
Design dilemmas
For those who are heavy cloud users already, they need to ensure they are maximising their investments. A few years ago, Andresson & Horrowitz raised the trillion $ dilemma – more than a trillion $ is held “hostage” in cloud and in software companies. The cloud promises economies of scale, but it needs to be utilised exactly as designed and sold – or the savings will become a fallacy with organisations trapped into a contract. Those organisations risk standing in two worlds without knowing which world they want to be in because their decisions were based on trends not true transformation.
Trends vs transformation
Unfortunately, like other trends, the tech buying cycle is skewed towards our desire for new shiny things. While it’s understandable – not many want to run the tech debt team and manage all the legacy issues – it needs to stop. Once organisations realise that in managing and minimising the debt – this is where the money can be realised and where the value can be gained. Then I can see VP of Tech Debt Reduction becoming a sought after job role!
If we consider a house again – there has to be a budget and roadmap for the short, medium and long term issues. Issues like redecorating, cleaning the gutters, fixing structural issues, damp, or the roof all need to be slotted in. In tech, this might include modernising applications, driving innovation, deploying platforms for DevOps engineers, streamlining access for AI data scientists, a complete migration away from HDD, deploying a new Gen AI tool or having solid peace of mind for data security.
Building a solid plan and long term roadmap which incorporates the right technology to deliver ROI, that is where the value is and that is how the innovation will happen. Don’t be driven by trends simply because others have adopted them – find the right vendor who is a true partner to go on the transformation journey with you.
