I blogged recently about the lessons learned from digital transformation. One of the provocations was around the impact of technical and digital debt.

Technical debt as a term has been around for many, many years. I first encountered it in a book by Jim Highsmith on Agile Project Management. It resonated with me and my experience.

Since then, I’ve worked with the concept to widen the definitions and embed into key organisation processes, from Digital & IT Strategy, through Application Portfolio Management, to sprint quotas.

Of course, a key challenge has always been building enough trust with other business colleagues to help build understanding, inform and get buy-in for appropriate action. That’s a topic for a blog in its own right.

Digital debt is a term we coined more recently. It speaks to some of the same concerns as technical debt. The proliferation of web presence, inconsistency of experience or brand, content that doesn’t address customer needs or a mobile experience that doesn’t meet expectations. These can be as damaging to the digital experience as technical debt.

For any digital transformation (or indeed ongoing operations), understanding the type and level of technical debt is a must. Probably more importantly, how the technical debt is trending over time and its implications for the customer experience, its impact on pace and adaptability. These are key considerations that must sit at the heart of your decision making. Your unique organisation circumstances dictate the specifics of what to measure and the treatment strategies.

You will be better able to manage the high expectations of stakeholders, shape the transformation and prioritise the investment when you have this insight. For example:

• What technical debt will act as an anchor when trying to increase the pace of change, irrespective of how fast your new IT engineering and product-based approaches to change are? Or put it another way, which single piece of technical debt will limit the flow of value, irrespective of how slick everything else is?
• To be able to adapt at pace, at short notice, responding to market opportunities, where is your underlying technology strong but resistant to change!?
• Customers just expect your digital channels to work, where must you improve the reliability of your service?
• Where can you increase cost effectiveness or risk mitigation through targeted automation as one of the treatment strategies available to you?
• Where are your opportunities to create improved customer experience that helps wow and build trust, through consistency of design and branding?

Of course, the unspoken, negative side, is the opposite of this list.

Not knowing where the debt lies, makes digital transformation like trying to fly over the Scottish Highlands, looking out the window to try and see where the mountains are, through the mist!

Do you know where the debt is, what treatment strategies you need and the impact on the transformation if you don’t? Yes, brilliant. No, we recommend you investigate quickly.

-Ali Law