When was the last time someone on your team was celebrated for keeping 🛠️ existing systems running smoothly? For preventing problems before they happened? For making something last longer?
In our relentless pursuit of the new, we’ve forgotten a fundamental truth: maintenance isn’t just a cost center – it’s a strategic advantage.
Most technology conversations revolve around transformation, innovation, and disruption. Rarely do we hear passionate discussions about the discipline of preservation. Yet that silence is costing you more than you realize.
Here’s what I’ve observed working with dozens of organizations: companies that allocate dedicated time and resources to maintenance report 60% fewer critical outages and save an average of 💰 3x what they spend on preventative care.
The problem isn’t technical – it’s cultural. We’ve created environments where launching something new gets applause, while maintaining what works is invisible labor. The engineer who prevents a system failure rarely gets the recognition of the one who builds something flashy.
But what if we flipped this perspective?
Imagine viewing maintenance not as a necessary evil but as 🌱 intentional stewardship – a deliberate choice to extract maximum value from your investments rather than chasing diminishing returns from constant replacement.
This isn’t about resisting innovation. It’s about being thoughtful about when renewal truly serves your purpose versus when it’s simply movement for movement’s sake.
The most mature technology organizations I work with have found this balance. They celebrate maintenance milestones alongside new launches. They budget for preservation with the same rigor as innovation. They recognize the wisdom in sometimes saying: “This is good enough, let’s make it last.”
In a world obsessed with more, the discipline of caring for what you already have might be your most contrarian – and 💎 valuable – technology strategy.
Christopher Grant
Founder, Nebari Consulting
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