Technology Assessment
Overview
Technology assessment evaluates technologies for strategic fit, technical feasibility, and competitive advantage. This skill covers frameworks for making informed technology decisions.
Assessment Dimensions
Technical Maturity
- •Proven vs. emerging
- •Stability and reliability
- •Community/ecosystem size
- •Documentation quality
Strategic Fit
- •Alignment with business goals
- •Competitive differentiation potential
- •Integration with existing systems
- •Scalability trajectory
Risk Profile
- •Technology risk (will it work?)
- •Adoption risk (will people use it?)
- •Vendor risk (will they survive?)
- •Security risk (vulnerabilities)
Economic Factors
- •Total cost of ownership
- •Time to value
- •Resource requirements
- •Opportunity cost
Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)
| Level | Description | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| TRL 1-3 | Research | Concept only, no implementation |
| TRL 4-6 | Development | Prototype, limited deployment |
| TRL 7-8 | Production | Proven at scale, enterprise-ready |
| TRL 9 | Mature | Widely adopted, commoditized |
Gartner Hype Cycle Mapping
Position technologies on the hype cycle:
- •Innovation Trigger: New technology emerges
- •Peak of Inflated Expectations: Hype exceeds reality
- •Trough of Disillusionment: Reality sets in
- •Slope of Enlightenment: Practical use cases emerge
- •Plateau of Productivity: Mainstream adoption
Build vs. Buy Framework
Build When:
- •Core competitive differentiator
- •Unique requirements not met by market
- •Long-term cost advantage
- •Internal expertise available
- •Control is critical
Buy When:
- •Commodity functionality
- •Time-to-market critical
- •Proven solutions exist
- •Maintenance burden undesirable
- •Lower total cost of ownership
Build vs. Buy Matrix
| Factor | Weight | Build Score | Buy Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic importance | 30% | 1-5 | 1-5 |
| Differentiation | 25% | 1-5 | 1-5 |
| Time to market | 20% | 1-5 | 1-5 |
| Total cost | 15% | 1-5 | 1-5 |
| Risk | 10% | 1-5 | 1-5 |
| Weighted Total | 100% | X.X | X.X |
Technology Stack Analysis
Layers to Assess
Infrastructure
- •Cloud provider (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- •Compute (containers, serverless, VMs)
- •Storage and databases
- •Networking
Platform
- •Application frameworks
- •Runtime environments
- •Development tools
- •CI/CD pipeline
Application
- •Core product technologies
- •Third-party integrations
- •APIs and services
- •Security stack
Stack Evaluation Criteria
| Criterion | Question | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Does it meet requirements? | High |
| Scalability | Can it grow with us? | High |
| Maintainability | Easy to support? | Medium |
| Security | Meets compliance needs? | High |
| Cost | Fits budget? | Medium |
| Talent | Can we hire for it? | Medium |
| Community | Active ecosystem? | Low |
Trend Indicators for Technologies
Apply three-valued logic:
INC (Increasing adoption)
- •Growing community
- •Increasing job postings
- •Rising search interest
- •New investment/funding
DEC (Decreasing adoption)
- •Shrinking community
- •Declining job postings
- •Migration to alternatives
- •Vendor instability
CONST (Stable)
- •Mature, established
- •Steady usage patterns
- •No major changes
Competitive Technology Analysis
Assess how competitors use technology:
| Competitor | Key Technologies | Strengths | Weaknesses | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | [Stack] | [Advantage] | [Gap] | INC/DEC/CONST |
| B | [Stack] | [Advantage] | [Gap] | INC/DEC/CONST |
Technical Due Diligence
For M&A or partnership evaluation:
Architecture Review
- •System design and patterns
- •Scalability approach
- •Technical debt level
- •Documentation quality
Code Quality
- •Testing coverage
- •Code review practices
- •Security practices
- •Performance benchmarks
Operations
- •Deployment processes
- •Monitoring and observability
- •Incident response
- •SLA track record
Team
- •Skills and expertise
- •Key person dependencies
- •Knowledge documentation
- •Retention risk
Output Structure
markdown
## Technology Assessment Summary ### Technology: [Name] **TRL**: [Level] **Hype Cycle Position**: [Stage] **Trend**: INC/DEC/CONST ### Evaluation Matrix | Dimension | Score (1-5) | Notes | |-----------|-------------|-------| | Technical Maturity | X | [Note] | | Strategic Fit | X | [Note] | | Risk Profile | X | [Note] | | Economic Factors | X | [Note] | | **Overall** | X.X | | ### Build vs. Buy Recommendation [Recommendation with rationale] ### Competitive Position [How this tech compares to alternatives] ### Risk Assessment - **Primary Risk**: [Risk and mitigation] - **Secondary Risk**: [Risk and mitigation] ### Recommendations 1. [Recommendation] 2. [Recommendation] ### Monitoring Indicators - [What to watch] - [What to watch]
Best Practices
- •Evaluate against actual use cases, not theoretical
- •Include non-technical stakeholders in assessment
- •Consider long-term maintenance, not just implementation
- •Document assumptions and update as they change
- •Prototype before committing to major decisions
Additional Resources
For detailed frameworks, see:
- •
references/tech-evaluation-matrix.md- Complete evaluation template - •
references/build-buy-analysis.md- Detailed build vs. buy - •
examples/tech-assessment-report.md- Sample assessment