Managing Technical Debt as Part of Your Digital Strategy

In our first article, we explored the fundamentals of technical debt—how it accrues interest over time and compounds exponentially, becoming significantly more expensive and difficult to resolve as systems grow in complexity. Much like financial debt, technical debt can be strategically borrowed today with the intention of repaying it in the future. The key to managing technical debt effectively lies in awareness and intentionality: understanding when it makes sense to take on debt and having a plan to address it before it spirals out of control.

However, technical debt isn’t limited to software development. It is a concept that extends to other parts of your digital strategy, including digital platforms, tools, and even organizational processes. Managing technical debt effectively across these areas is essential to ensuring your digital transformation efforts remain aligned and scalable.

Beyond Software: Addressing Platform Debt

Technical debt is most commonly associated with software development, but its principles apply equally to the broader ecosystem of digital platforms and tools. Let’s take a closer look at how technical debt manifests in digital platforms.

1. Outdated or Legacy Platform Debt

Using outdated systems, such as Content Management Systems (CMS), e-commerce platforms, or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, can create "platform debt." These legacy systems often lack modern features, scalability, and integration capabilities, stifling innovation and adding to maintenance costs.

2. Integration and Tool Debt

Using too many disconnected tools for accounting, analytics, email marketing, social media, and customer engagement creates inefficiencies, data silos, and inconsistencies. Poorly integrated platforms or tools that don’t communicate effectively with each other can hinder productivity and make it difficult to derive meaningful insights. These integration challenges often lead to higher maintenance costs and slower operational processes.

3. Customization Debt

Over-customizing off-the-shelf platforms might solve short-term problems but often leads to long-term headaches.

For instance, a good friend of mine once set up an online shop and relied on affiliate partners to customize the platform. She requested that her shop look like another shop she had seen online. The developers delivered a completely new, custom UI, which initially seemed like a cost-effective solution. However, as time went on, issues began to pile up. Bugs went undetected, posing risks to both customer satisfaction and her business’s reputation.

Had she opted for a standard, proven template offered by the platform and adjusted the look and feel within its constraints, she would have had a tested, reliable solution that just works. While it might not have looked exactly how she envisioned, the trade-off would have been worth it. Now, she’s stuck with a custom development that only the original developers can understand, creating a significant amount of customization debt.

4. Tracking and Compliance Debt

Failing to migrate to modern tools or keeping up with data privacy regulations can result in compliance and technical debt. This can expose businesses to risks and reduce their ability to make data-driven decisions effectively.

5. Automation Debt

A lack of process automation slows down workflows and impacts user engagement.

For example, one of my clients, who runs a service business adjacent to the construction industry, relied heavily on Excel sheets and email to track project statuses and generate reports for her clients. These manual processes consumed a large portion of her time, leaving little room for strategic growth.

Before engaging me, she had already started adopting workflow management tools. Through our collaboration, we analyzed her existing processes and are defining a digital strategy aimed at streamlining operations. By automating manual tasks and keeping data centralized, her team can focus on revenue-generating activities rather than repetitive administrative work. This is a prime example of how addressing automation debt in tools and processes can unlock operational efficiency.

A Holistic Approach to Technical Debt

Technical debt in software development is just one piece of the larger puzzle. If organizations address only their codebase while neglecting digital platforms, tools, and workflows, they risk creating bottlenecks that hinder digital transformation efforts.

By taking a holistic approach to technical debt—one that considers its impact across platforms, tools, and strategies—businesses can ensure their digital initiatives remain aligned, scalable, and competitive. This proactive mindset enables organizations to adapt to changing market demands while maintaining the integrity of their systems and processes.

Looking Ahead

Managing technical debt is not about avoiding it altogether—it’s about making informed decisions and preparing for the future. In the next article, we’ll dive into concrete strategies for reducing technical debt, from prioritizing high-impact areas to implementing tools and processes that prevent debt from accumulating in the first place.

If you’ve encountered technical debt in your digital strategy, whether in software development, platforms, or tools, I’d love to hear your experiences. What challenges have you faced, and how have you addressed them? Let’s start a conversation and learn from one another.