CIOs must pay down the accumulated technical debt to regain strategic relevance while playing the role for which IT is best suited: guiding technology decisions.
Paying Back Technical Debt: Getting Started
To get out from under the technical debt, the first step is to develop a baseline. Metrics should be identified, base-lined, and tracked to measure ongoing impacts.
Be sure to include metrics that have business context as the selected metrics will influence the ongoing efforts. For instance, track the number of days it takes to fix code or measure the percentage of code that meets the organization's compliance standards. Tools exist to help manage code coverage, quality and complexity. Processes, such as application portfolio management, can also be redesigned to facilitate application debt reduction.