[kernelbandwidth]

Absolutely. A brief story on tech debt from the top:

One of the more frustrating things I've experienced is when I got push-back for implementing more project management process (we have a very light process, but when I took over it was sticky-notes-on-the-desk level). The complaint was "we can't slow down development to do more process". Very through-the-looking-glass, as I, the Engineer, was arguing for more management process and Leadership wanted less.

But of course, accurate estimates were needed, just, you know, without making measurements. I implemented some process anyway. We actually increased development speed from less churn and lowered communicated (consult docs before breaking someone's flow), improved estimates, and we've been able to better contain our tech debt.

[Bartweiss]

> Very through-the-looking-glass, as I, the Engineer, was arguing for more management process and Leadership wanted less.

I suspect you could go a long way with the heuristic "If engineering asks for more process, always give it to them."

It's not flawless, but it's like hearing Ron Paul call for a new regulation - when a request is that out of character, you should usually suspect that there's some good motivation.