Minimizing Technical Debt in Operations

Technical debt is a serious challenge for businesses that rely on their IT infrastructure. If the systems and processes within the organization (how things get done) are not implemented with care and attention to technical debt, that debt, and the impact it has on the organization will only increase in severity.

How do you minimize technical debt in operations?

While I am sure there are others, here are a few methods that have brought me success in managing technical debt over time:

• Communication.

• Leverage simplicity, without sacrificing the robustness that is valuable.

• Be willing to welcome constraints and invest in flexibility.

• Maintain a clear understanding of the problems being solved, the requirements that are relevant, and the goals of the organization and services provided.

• Deliver value without adding undue burden.

• Compose systems out of smaller, well-functioning modules with clearly defined scope, roles, and responsibilities.

• Refactor to remove poorly designed or non-scalable systems. Don’t be affraid to innovate, or change, and have the discernment to know when to leave something alone (at least for now).

• Automate (streamline) repetitive and tedious or error-prone tasks. Make them push-button repeatable.

• Don’t rush in solving the problems you are managing - it is a balancing act, and solutions should be implemented when you feel confident in your understanding of the impact each solution/change will have on the larger whole.

• Expect to make mistakes, expect things to break, embrace and plan for failure.

• Help others understand how their contributions impact the debt on the ledger.

• Build a culture of awareness and care for the debt the organization carries.

• Share the responsibility of maintaining and minimizing this debt, defend the organization from an imbalance of debt producers (borrowers) and payers.

• Introspect the system and maintain awareness of the state of stress and distribution of load across and within.