> I think it's a mistake to ask non-experts to prioritize things they don't understand.
Exactly right, for the most part if the business has enough trust in engineering to do the best they can, the technical strategy to realise business value is up to engineering, including 'debt'.
The most effective strategy I've seen so far is my current employer. We split our time across the quarter. 60% to core product focuses for the quarter, 20% to ad-hoc requests from the business, and 20% to 'tech improvement'. The latter includes personal growth for new engineers related to our stack or exploring new tech, improving our current tooling, and addressing areas of 'tech debt'. This split is agreed with the business, and the tech lead in a team is responsible for maintaining the balance and has autonomy here too - often we see areas of debt that impact our product focuses so that becomes core for example. It takes trust on all sides but seems to be working well.
For sure. And for me, key to making this strategy work is delivering early and often in ways that build confidence. E.g., your 20% ad-hoc requests is a great way to keep unplanned, urgent work from eating up the time necessary tech stuff.
Exactly right, for the most part if the business has enough trust in engineering to do the best they can, the technical strategy to realise business value is up to engineering, including 'debt'.
The most effective strategy I've seen so far is my current employer. We split our time across the quarter. 60% to core product focuses for the quarter, 20% to ad-hoc requests from the business, and 20% to 'tech improvement'. The latter includes personal growth for new engineers related to our stack or exploring new tech, improving our current tooling, and addressing areas of 'tech debt'. This split is agreed with the business, and the tech lead in a team is responsible for maintaining the balance and has autonomy here too - often we see areas of debt that impact our product focuses so that becomes core for example. It takes trust on all sides but seems to be working well.