Technical Debt Assessment and Valuation

Do you know the true value of your software? Are you sure? Does your value calculation include technical debt?

Technical debt is a real cost. Whether you're looking at it from the perspective of a venture capitalist or CEO, or from the viewpoint of a CIO or CTO, or you're trying to determine if a merger or acquisition makes sense, knowing how much money is required to "pay back" your software's technical debt may be the very factor that proves your decision to be a good one or a very costly one.

In a Technical Debt Assessment and Valuation, Cutter's Senior Consultants - led by Israel Gat - examine the quality of the software under examination through technical and business lenses. Whether that code is your own, has been developed by an acquisition candidate, or by a company you're investing (more) in, Cutter's Technical Debt Assessment and Valuation will enable you to:

• Get the vital answer to the question "Is your software an asset or a liability?"
• Know how much (more) money you will need to invest in order to fix the code.
• Get data and insights you need to guide the fix-it process for the software.
• Identify projects that are likely to get in trouble at an early stage of the software life cycle
• Determine if the technical debt is keeping your software development staff from responding quickly and effectively to customer requests

Plus, you'll get the tools you need to govern the software development process on an on-going basis to avoid the expense of future technical debt.

In a Technical Debt Assessment and Valuation, Cutter's Senior Consultants will identify the architecture, design, coding, testing and documentation deficits that constitute technical debt. The assessment combines static code analytics with dynamic program analytics to give you "x-rays" of the software being examined at any desired granularity. You'll get a report and/or presentation that provide you with a dollar figure you can plug into your financial models so that you can objectively analyze your critical software assets. Easy-to-understand graphics depicting the quality of your code and the cost of your technical debt will enable your team to zero in on the most hazardous projects and fix them in a prioritized manner. And you'll get operational recommendations that take into account various qualitative and quantitative factors that characterize your software development process. These recommendations will help you make the best decisions about your ongoing strategy for this software development effort.

Cutter's Technical Debt Assessment and Valuation is most effective as an on-premises engagement. However, it can also be done as a largely off-premises engagement based on a snapshot of the code. For more details, or to arrange your Technical Debt Assessment and Valuation, contact your Cutter Account Executive at +1 781 648 8700 or sales@cutter.com.

Ward Cunningham on Technical Debt.