Product Management as the Solution to Technical Debt

The Root of Technical Debt

Technical debt arises from funding gaps between teams focused on innovation and those responsible for efficiency. Without clear accountability, addressing this problem becomes politicized and delayed, only exacerbating the issue.

Traditional team structures create a divide between "dev" and "ops," leaving both sides helpless as funding decisions are made at higher levels.

Product Model Innovation

The product model transforms this dynamic, as product teams own both new features and ongoing value delivery. Product management becomes a "business within the business," responsible for both development and operations.

Integrating Dev and Ops

In the product model, product and engineering leads form close partnerships. A fixed percentage of funding is allocated to technical debt, controlled by the engineering lead to prioritize the most critical issues.

This devolution of authority ensures decisions are made closer to the information, aligning with agile and DevOps values.

Executive Sponsorship and Platform Engineering

Protected technical debt capacity is established and sponsored by executives. Platform engineering also plays a role by reducing infrastructure variation and developer autonomy, streamlining tech stacks and minimizing decay.

Summary Recommendations

Organizations aiming to address technical debt should consider:

• Integrating dev and ops at the product team level
• Protecting a dedicated tech debt paydown budget
• Investing in platform engineering to reduce sprawl

Expert Quote

"Most companies with a good handle on tech debt work on it every day, with about 10-30% of their engineering capacity." - Marty Cagan, Silicon Valley Product Group