Every CIO has to find a balance between innovation, speed, and technical debt. While the business demands innovation and speed today, the payments on that debt grow over time, reducing the ability to move forward. In a COVID world, however, strategic initiatives are now business continuity issues, and the debt begins to pile up. Timelines for digital transformation outstrip any argument for reducing technical debt. The lights won’t stay on if your innovations aren’t delivered.
This balance of technical debt is not unique to just CIOs. For Chief Product Officers of SaaS companies, the phrase “technical debt” is defined similarly, running the gamut from a necessary evil to a four-letter word. Depending on who you ask, properly managed technical debt can be healthy and merely represents a natural byproduct of building new and deprecating old features. On the other hand, there are those that view technical debt as a veritable ball and chain, gradually slowing down innovation as a byproduct of rushed development and releases and imperfect code.
So which is it? How can CPOs and CIOs balance speed and tech debt management? And what role does the Salesforce AppExchange play in this conversation?
First things first — let’s define what exactly we mean when we say technical debt. Coined by software developer and co-author of The Manifesto for Agile Software Development, Ward Cunningham, the concept of technical debt is similar to financial debt: It’s ok to borrow against the future, as long you eventually pay it off. In other words, shipping imperfect code can be justified, but business leaders will ultimately shoulder the responsibility for paying down tech debt over time.
A Matter of Speed
In line with Cunningham’s definition of tech debt, the most effective strategy for managing technical debt is to roll it into larger product and feature development initiatives. Slowly “paying down” tech debt while investing in writing new code. But this process isn’t always so straightforward.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2020, it’s that global events can throw a year’s worth of planning straight out the window. Instead of a thoughtful, intentional process, technology development becomes a mad dash to the finish. Companies are forced to borrow against their future to push new products live in order to adjust to unprecedented business circumstances.
In the case of COVID-19, we see companies launching solutions to meet the needs of the rapid transition to remote work and the myriad digital solutions businesses need to stay competitive. From remote work solutions to systems for business continuity and beyond, COVID-19 inspired businesses to seek out and deliver new solutions as quickly as possible. In our conversations with CIOs, technical debt is increasing with little opportunity to pay it down.
Build vs Buy — Investing in Innovation
The build versus buy challenge isn’t an unfamiliar one for CIOs. What is different about today’s decision-making process is the implications of tech debt. In short, businesses that focus on building solutions rapidly in-house become so consumed with creating new solutions that long-term maintenance is debilitating. This is a recipe for uncontrolled technical debt, the likes of which brings innovation to a screeching halt.
What other options are there in a COVID world that enable companies to rapidly deploy solutions to solve business continuity challenges? The answer is grounded in AppExchange products that are built on the Salesforce platform. Salesforce’s ethos for 3 releases per year, delivering technology innovations to all customers, is carried forward by their ecosystem of ISVs as well. The dynamics of a recurring subscription force the SaaS company to constantly deliver new innovation and value.
Here’s a snapshot of R&D spend for some of these companies as of July 31, 2020:
- Salesforce — $1.2B
- DocuSign — $85M
- SurveyMonkey — $43M
- nCino — $26M
In order for the CPOs and CTOs of ISVs to efficiently deliver innovation, release after release, year after year, they must effectively manage their technical debt. This is truly the ethos of Salesforce and AppExchange: managing the technical debt of innovation so that you don’t have to.
As a CIO, you can leverage the AppExchange to increase your speed to market with innovative solutions and reduce the technical debt. Of note, you haven’t actually reduced technical debt, rather you have transferred ownership of it to the ISV. This frees your IT team to continually deliver high-value innovation for the business in record time. The AppExchange is your secret weapon.
CodeScience enables commercial success on the Salesforce AppExchange. Having launched over 300+ products that customers use daily. We are uniquely poised to build, commercialize, and deploy the applications that fuel the ecosystem. Learn more at www.codescience.com
