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Standard : Teams own and evolve their internal technical standards

Purpose and Strategic Importance

This standard ensures teams take ownership of their internal technical standards, evolving them to meet changing needs while upholding engineering quality. It empowers teams to work with autonomy and accountability.

Aligned to our "Engineering Excellence First" policy, this standard promotes consistency, innovation, and pride in craftsmanship. Without it, quality drifts, standards stagnate, and teams become reliant on top-down direction.

Strategic Impact

  • Improved consistency and quality across teams
  • Reduced operational friction and delivery risks
  • Stronger ownership and autonomy in technical decision-making
  • More inclusive and sustainable engineering culture

Risks of Not Having This Standard

  • Slower time-to-value and increased rework
  • Accumulation of inconsistency and process debt
  • Reduced trust in engineering data, systems, or ownership
  • Loss of agility in the face of change or failure

CMMI Maturity Model

  • Level 1 – Initial: Technical standards are informal or outdated. Quality practices vary widely across teams, and improvements depend on individual initiative.

  • Level 2 – Managed: Some teams maintain internal standards, but they are applied inconsistently and rarely evolve. Ownership may be unclear or unevenly distributed.

  • Level 3 – Defined: Teams take clear ownership of their internal technical standards. Standards are documented, shared, and regularly reviewed to meet current needs.

  • Level 4 – Quantitatively Managed: Standard adoption and effectiveness are tracked. Teams use metrics, peer review, and retrospectives to evolve their practices and align with broader engineering goals.

  • Level 5 – Optimising: Technical standards are dynamic, evolving with feedback, emerging patterns, and new technologies. Cross-team learning accelerates maturity, and high-quality engineering becomes a cultural norm.


Key Measures

  • Adoption rates and coverage across teams
  • Impact on delivery metrics, quality, or team health
  • Evidence of ownership, governance, or learning loops
Associated Policies
  • Engineering Excellence First
  • Architect for Change
Associated Practices
  • Refactoring
  • Working Agreements
  • Architecture Decision Forums
  • Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)
  • Bounded Context Mapping
Associated Measures
  • Code Churn
  • Technical Debt Ratio

Technical debt is like junk food - easy now, painful later.

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