What is Technology Board Reporting?
Technology board reporting is the practice of communicating engineering and technology status to a company's board of directors in financial and strategic terms they understand.
Technology board reporting is the practice of communicating engineering and technology status to a company's board of directors in financial and strategic terms they understand.
Effective board reporting translates technical metrics into business language: instead of "we reduced cyclomatic complexity by 15%," say "we reduced the risk of production outages by 15%, protecting $2M in monthly revenue."
Richard Ewing's recommended board-level technology metrics: Product Debt Index (overall tech health as a single number), Technical Insolvency Date (when debt becomes critical), Innovation Tax (% of R&D that's actually maintenance), APER (revenue per engineer), and AI Cost Ratio (AI spend as % of feature revenue).
Board members don't need to understand code. They need to understand: Is our technology an asset or a liability? Are we investing R&D dollars efficiently? What are our biggest technology risks?
Why It Matters
Most boards are technology-illiterate but technology-dependent. Board reporting bridges this gap, ensuring technology gets the governance attention and investment it deserves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What technology metrics should go to the board?
Five key metrics: Product Debt Index (tech health), Technical Insolvency Date (risk timeline), Innovation Tax (R&D efficiency), APER (revenue per engineer), and AI Cost Ratio.
How often should you report technology to the board?
Quarterly at minimum. Monthly dashboards for metrics, with deeper quarterly narratives on strategy, risks, and investment needs.
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Richard Ewing is a Product Economist and AI Capital Auditor. He helps companies translate technical complexity into financial clarity.
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