{"id":11958,"date":"2023-03-03T09:24:28","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T09:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ee.yelkdev.site\/?p=11958"},"modified":"2024-12-10T00:18:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T00:18:09","slug":"why-developers-doing-maintenance-mode-is-best-for-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.equalexperts.com\/blog\/our-thinking\/why-developers-doing-maintenance-mode-is-best-for-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Why developers doing maintenance mode is best for your business"},"content":{"rendered":"

I speak with customers and consultants across the Equal Experts network<\/a>, to help our customers solve scaling problems and achieve business agility. One of our customers recently asked me \u2018how do we do maintenance mode in a DevSecOps world\u2019 and our answer of \u2018create multi-product teams\u2019 deserves an explanation.<\/p>\n

Maintenance mode is when demand for change declines to zero for live digital services and data pipelines, and the rate of maintenance tasks supersedes planned value-adding work. Working on maintenance tasks alone (capacity fixes, library upgrades, security fixes) is also known as \u2018keeping the lights on\u2019, or \u2018BAU support\u2019.<\/p>\n

Zero demand doesn\u2019t mean zero user needs, zero planned features, or zero faults. Software can’t entirely satisfy users, can’t be finished, and can’t be fault-free. Zero demand really means zero funding for more planned features.<\/p>\n

Zero demand services are put into maintenance mode so teams can be reassigned to increase capacity for new propositions, or resized\/retired to reduce costs. But those outcomes aren\u2019t enough. You also need to protect live services reliability, staff job satisfaction, and future feature delivery. No funding today doesn\u2019t mean giving up on a better tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Implementing an effective ownership model for zero demand services is difficult. At Equal Experts we call it the Maintenance Mode Problem. You can spot it by listening out for people saying \u2018we need to increase capacity\u2019 or \u2018we need to reduce costs\u2019. Or you can measure unplanned work rate across your teams, and look for a decline in planned features.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a comparison of maintenance mode solutions, and their impacts on those outcomes.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

Solution #1 – delivery teams<\/h2>\n

Delivery teams maintain zero demand services in the background, and build new services in the foreground, while an operations team does live support for everyone. Here\u2019s an example from a composite American retailer. 11 of 13 teams are building non-differentiators, and they maintain their live services themselves when zero demand is reached.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

This solution has its benefits. It creates capacity for teams to start new propositions. The prior level of services reliability can be preserved, because teams have a low cognitive load, plus the technical skills and domain knowledge to complete maintenance tasks.<\/p>\n

Future feature delivery is difficult, because delivery teams usually have separate business owners for their background and foreground services, so prioritization is difficult. And there\u2019s little intrinsic job satisfaction, because teams don\u2019t own outcomes. But the big disadvantage is you can\u2019t easily resize or retire teams. That\u2019s why our customers often believe dedicated teams aren\u2019t value for money with zero demand services. This solution usually ends as soon as cost pressures begin.<\/p>\n

Solution #2 – operations team<\/h2>\n

This is the traditional maintenance mode solution. Delivery teams transition their zero demand services into the operations team, who do maintenance tasks and live support for everyone. Here\u2019s our American retailer again, with 11 teams reassigned, resized, and\/or retired when their non-differentiators reach zero demand.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

This solution is popular because it increases team capacity and reduces costs. In addition, the operations team can be outsourced for further cost savings. However, there are significant disadvantages:<\/p>\n