Ways to Communicate Tech Debt to Stakeholders

You’re an engineering leader, a staff+ engineer, or a product owner who sees the cost of technical debt every day. But when you try to advocate for time to fix it, execs either nod vaguely or change the subject. You’re not wrong—you’re just not being heard. Here’s why that happens: When you say "tech debt," they hear "not urgent." When you say "refactor," they hear "money pit." When you say "architecture," they hear "someone else’s problem." But the reality is: Tech debt slows down your ability to ship new features. It increases the risk of outages or missed SLAs. It silently drives away your best engineers. So how do you make them care? I coach engineering and product leaders on how to frame technical priorities in business language—so they get the time, resources, and executive backing they need. Here’s the approach: Tie tech debt to business risk or cost: "This feature now takes 3x longer to ship because of X." Use executive language: Talk time-to-market, reliability, developer retention—not code quality. Frame it as an investment: "Fixing this sets us up for velocity in Q3." Make tradeoffs visible: "If we don’t fix this now, we’ll miss Y opportunity." Track real pain: Show data on cycle time, error rates, or turnover. Don’t wait for permission. If your leadership still sees tech debt as an engineering problem, it’s time to change the story you’re telling. This is where I come in. I help technical leaders communicate with power—bridging the gap between strategy and systems. Whether through coaching or fractional partnership, let’s get your org moving faster and smarter. #technicalleadership #engineeringmanagement #productstrategy #executivecommunication #startupgrowth

You might as well be speaking “Klingon” Just dropped from a meeting where the IT Director provided his update to the leadership team. The c-level folks and non-technical leaders had no clue what he was talking about… From my experience this is the #1 mistake technical professionals make when meeting with business stakeholders I'll be blunt… business stakeholders don’t care about your technical architecture diagrams, your configuration details, or how cutting-edge your solution is. They care about outcomes. They care about results. They care about impact. BUT most technical professionals go into meetings armed with technical jargon & acronyms and leave the room wondering why no one bought in. If you’re presenting to business leaders, here’s the reality check… you are selling and you’re not selling technology - you’re selling business value. I don’t like to present a problem without a solution – so let’s try this… Step 1 Start every conversation by answering this “How does this solve a business problem?” If you have a technical solution that reduces costs, increases revenue, mitigates risk, or makes life easier for users, lead with that. Everything else is just details that nobody cares about. Step 2 Translate technical features into business benefits. Instead of saying, “We’re implementing zero trust,” say, “We’re reducing critical risks to our top revenue producing critical business functions.” Step 3 Stakeholders want to hear about how your solution will reduce downtime, increase productivity, save $$$, or improve client satisfaction. Make your impact measurable and relatable. Step 4 Can you reframe your message using an analogy or better yet a story. Numbers are great, but stories are sticky and resonate. Frame your solution in the context of a real-world scenario, like something stakeholders can visualize and connect with. Step 5 No one likes a squeaky wishy washy technical expert. Take a position, back it with evidence, and be clear about the path forward. Confidence inspires trust. Stop talking about the “how.” Start owning the “why.” And STOP speaking “Klingon” When you shift your focus to business value, you’ll see interest, buy-in, alignment, and support. #ciso #dpo #msp #leadership

I watched a brilliant, but "green" CTO nearly kill his own digital transformation proposal. It was my first day with this advisory client. Thirty minutes into a presentation, he was deep into microservices architectures and API gateways. The CEO finally interrupted: "How will this impact our quarterly earnings?" Silence. Let's do some "executive translation" practice: ❌ **Technology narrative:** "We need to modernize our legacy systems with cloud-native architecture to improve scalability and reduce technical debt” (accurate, but wrong). ✅ **Business narrative:**  "In order to achieve our North Star vision, we need the technological capability to iterate and launch 75% faster while reducing our operational risk from system failures” (still accurate, and right). Here's the framework: 🎯 **Lead with business outcomes** → Revenue acceleration → Cost reduction  → Risk mitigation → Competitive advantage 💡 **Connect technology to improved business capabilities** → "Speed to market" → "Operational resilience" → "Customer experience quality" → "Innovation velocity" 📊 **Quantify in real business terms** → Time to revenue → Market share protection → Customer retention rates → Operational efficiency gains The reframe that changes everything: ❌: "We're implementing DevSecOps" ✅: "We're building the capability to deliver customer value continuously while reducing our risk" Whatever your role or level today, if you can master this translation, you will become a strategic partner, not a service provider. Even if you're not a CTO yet, you could become his/her best friend tomorrow. The board doesn't care about your RAG pattern, micro services architecture or your DevSecOps. They care about what it enables for their business. #TechnologyStrategy #ExecutiveCommunication #BusinessValue #CTO #BoardReadiness