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Technology Radar

A Technology Radar is a visual tool that helps teams track and evaluate emerging technologies, showing which ones to adopt, hold, or avoid based on their relevance and maturity.

Let's be honest - keeping up with technology trends feels like drinking from a firehose. Every week brings a new framework, tool, or methodology that might (or might not) matter to your organization. Most companies get by fine without any formal technology scanning process - they react to whatever their developers bring to the table or what their vendors are pushing. However, in the long run, having a systematic approach to technology intelligence usually makes the difference between leading and following.

What is this practice?

Example snapshot of over a 100 practices from ThoughtWorks

Technology Radar is a structured approach to tracking emerging technologies, techniques, tools, platforms, and frameworks that might impact your organization. Think of it as your early warning system for technological change. Originally popularized by ThoughtWorks (and yes, they deserve full credit), it's become a standard tool for technology leaders who want to stay ahead of the curve without chasing every shiny new object.

The radar metaphor isn't accidental - just like a real radar, it helps you spot things coming your way before they arrive at your doorstep. It divides technologies into four quadrants (typically Tools, Techniques, Platforms, and Languages & Frameworks) and four rings (Adopt, Trial, Assess, and Hold).

What challenges does this help with?

I'd put Technology Radar on your radar and read on, if you're facing these challenges:

  •

    High Technical Debt is a state of your technical systems where accumulated shortcuts, outdated code, and quick fixes significantly slow down development and increase maintenance costs. Learn more

  • Low innovation means that a company fails to deliver new features or improvements that meet customer needs, leading to decreased satisfaction and loyalty. Learn more

  • Too many team dependencies can slow progress, as teams must wait for each other to complete tasks before moving forward. Learn more

  • High cognitive load means that the team has too many things on their shoulders, making them slower to move or to think. Learn more

  • Your teams have no decisions about what they’re building or even how they’re building. They seek approval for most things. Learn more

Why should you care?

I'll take a thoughtful, proactive approach to technology adoption over reactive firefighting any day. Here's why Technology Radar matters:

  1. Avoid the "Oh crap" moment - You know, that moment when you realize everyone else has already adopted a technology that could have saved you months of work. Or worse, when you discover you've invested heavily in something about to become obsolete.
  2. Make better bets - Technology choices are increasingly strategic. The wrong bet can saddle you with technical debt that'll take years to pay off. The right bet can give you a serious competitive advantage.
  3. Align your organization - Without a shared view of the technology landscape, different teams make different choices, leading to a fragmented technology estate that's expensive to maintain and difficult to staff.
  4. Build learning into your DNA - Regular radar updates force your organization to keep learning and evaluating new technologies in a structured way.

When to implement this?

Startups (5-20 people)

  • Too Early: If you're a tiny startup with less than five engineers, you probably don't need a formal radar yet. Your team is likely already staying on top of relevant technologies through daily discussions.
  • Good to Start: Once you hit 5-10 engineers across different projects, you'll start seeing divergent technology choices. This is when a lightweight radar can help maintain coherence without bureaucracy.
  • Implementation Tip: Keep it ultra-light - a monthly tech sync where you update a simple shared document.

Growing Companies (20-100 people)

  • Perfect Timing: This is the sweet spot for starting a Technology Radar practice. You're big enough to need coordination but not so big that change is impossible.
  • Warning Signs You Need It:
    • Different teams are choosing different solutions for the same problems.
    • You're starting to lose track of what technologies are used where
    • New hires are bringing in technology choices that may or may not fit your stack.
  • Implementation Tip: Quarterly updates with representatives from each major technical team.

Mid-size Organizations (100-1000 people)

  • Critical Need: At this size, you absolutely need some form of technology tracking and governance.
  • Specific Triggers:
    • Multiple development centers or offices
    • Different product lines with separate tech stacks
    • Growing technical debt from uncoordinated choices
    • Increasing cost of maintaining diverse technology portfolios
  • Implementation Tip: Consider creating linked radars for different divisions while maintaining a company-wide view.

Enterprise (1000+ people)

  • Complex Need: Large organizations often need a federated approach to Technology Radar.
  • Implementation Considerations:
    • Multiple radars for different business units
    • Central technology office maintaining enterprise-wide standards
    • Formal governance process for moving technologies between rings
    • Regular alignment with enterprise architecture
  • Implementation Tip: Start with one business unit as a pilot before rolling out company-wide.

Expanding on this practice

Making the Tough Calls

The most challenging aspect of Technology Radar isn't the process - it's the judgment calls. Should microservices be in Adopt or Trial? Is that new testing framework ready for Assessment? Here's where having strong technical instincts comes into play. You need to channel multiple points of view and think through implications from different angles.

Making it Your Own

While ThoughtWorks' radar is excellent, your organization needs its own view. Your context is different. Your constraints are different. Your opportunities are different. I've seen companies adapt the radar in creative ways - adding new rings, changing quadrants, or even creating multiple linked radars for different parts of their organization.

The Social Dimension

Technology Radar isn't just a document - it's a conversation starter. The real value often comes from discussions while creating and updating it. It's an opportunity to surface different perspectives, challenge assumptions, and build consensus around technology choices.

How to implement it step-by-step

  1. Add Technology Radar to your deck / :
  2. Communicate the start of work on the practice to the team.
  3. Assemble strike team to work on the practice.
  4. Form your radar team
    • Gather a diverse group of technical leaders
    • Include architects, senior developers, and technical product managers
    • Aim for 5-12 people who can represent different perspectives
  5. Define your quadrants
    • Start with the standard four (Tools, Techniques, Platforms, Languages & Frameworks)
    • Modify if needed for your context
    • Document clear definitions for each quadrant
  6. Clarify your rings
    • Adopt: We use this successfully in production
    • Trial: We're trying this in a pilot project
    • Assess: Worth exploring with a spike
    • Hold: Not recommended for new use
  7. Generate your first blips
    • Have each team member submit 3-5 technologies per quadrant
    • Include current technologies, not just new ones
    • Capture key metadata: description, rationale, success stories
  8. Hold your radar plotting session
    • Schedule 2-4 hours with your radar team
    • Review each blip as a group
    • Discuss and reach a consensus on placement
    • Document key discussion points
  9. Publish and communicate
    • Create a visual representation
    • Write up supporting documentation
    • Present to the broader technology organization
    • Make it easily accessible
  10. Rinse and repeat
    • Schedule regular updates (quarterly is standard)
    • Track movement between rings
    • Archive old radars for historical context

PS: If you need help with implementing the Technology Radar, contact me. I have 20+ years of commercial experience working with bigger and smaller companies, upgrading product, design, and engineering teams to the next level. I can also connect you with experts on this subject.

ThoughtWorks Build Your Own Radar

ThoughtWorks Build Your Own Radar

ThoughWorks was kind enough to provide a tool that translates Google Sheets to your own radar.

Download links:

Tips & Tricks

Be Strategic About Radar Updates

  • Make it a regular but not too frequent process - quarterly works well for most organizations
  • Use update sessions as learning opportunities - have teams present deep dives on specific technologies
  • Document not just what goes on the radar but also what gets removed and why
  • Keep an audit trail of technology movements between rings - it tells a story about your organization's evolution
  • Consider seasonal factors - avoid major updates during holiday seasons or your busiest business periods

Connect Radar to Action

  • Link radar entries to specific projects or initiatives where technologies are being used
  • Create clear ownership for each technology on the radar
  • Set up "technology champions" who can advise others on particular entries
  • Maintain a backlog of technologies to evaluate and assign investigation tasks
  • Track adoption metrics for technologies in the "Trial" and "Adopt" rings
  • Create feedback loops between teams using the technologies and the radar team

Balance Different Perspectives

  • Include both pragmatists and innovators in your radar team
  • Mix experienced architects with hands-on developers
  • Consider input from operations and security teams, not just development
  • Get feedback from business stakeholders on strategic technology choices
  • Include perspectives from different office locations or development centers
  • Create a process for anyone in the organization to suggest radar entries

Make it Visible and Accessible

  • Create an internal website or wiki for your radar
  • Include rich metadata like use cases, success stories, and lessons learned
  • Add links to internal examples and proof-of-concepts
  • Maintain a FAQ for common questions about technology choices
  • Create easy-to-share visualizations for executive presentations
  • Consider publishing an external version to help with recruitment

Use it in Daily Work

  • Reference the radar in architecture review meetings
  • Include radar status in project kickoff discussions
  • Use it during technical debt discussions
  • Incorporate it into your hiring and onboarding processes
  • Make it part of your technical strategy reviews
  • Use it to guide training and skill development programs

Keep the Process Light

  • Don't try to track every single library or tool - focus on significant technologies
  • Use simple templates that capture essential information without bureaucracy
  • Automate data collection where possible (like usage statistics)
  • Keep meetings focused and timeboxed
  • Use asynchronous discussions for initial technology assessments
  • Create clear criteria for what deserves to be on the radar

Build-in Learning Mechanisms

  • Create spike projects to evaluate new technologies
  • Set up internal tech talks about radar items
  • Establish mentoring relationships between early adopters and other teams
  • Document learnings from failed technology experiments
  • Create shared testing environments for technologies in the "Assess" ring
  • Build a knowledge base of patterns and anti-patterns

Manage the Political Aspects

  • Be transparent about decision-making criteria
  • Create transparent processes for challenging radar placement
  • Handle vendor relationships carefully - the radar isn't a procurement tool
  • Be diplomatic about technologies that need to move to "Hold"
  • Create a safe space for teams to admit when technologies aren't working out
  • Balance between standardization and team autonomy

Common Mistakes

  1. Implementing too early
    • Starting before you have enough technical diversity to warrant it
    • Creating process overhead when informal discussions would suffice
    • Forcing structure onto a team that's still finding its technical direction
    • Spending time on governance when you should be focused on building
    • Trying to predict technology trends before you have enough experience to evaluate them
  2. Making it too complex
    • Adding too many rings or quadrants
    • Trying to track too many technologies
    • Creating overly bureaucratic processes
  3. Treating it as a document, not a process
    • Focusing on the output instead of the conversations
    • Not updating regularly
    • Not connecting it to action
  4. Lacking clear criteria
    • Inconsistent ring definitions
    • Subjective quadrant placement
    • No clear movement criteria
  5. Poor socialization
    • Not involving key stakeholders
    • Insufficient communication
    • No clear path to influence

How to Convince Your Boss

If you've read this far, you're hopefully sold. But your boss might need some convincing. Here's how to frame it:

  1. Risk Management - Frame it as a way to make technology choices less risky and more systematic. Nobody ever got fired for having a process.
  2. Cost Avoidance - Highlight how early detection of technology trends can prevent expensive mistakes or technical debt.
  3. Competitive Advantage - Show examples of companies that have benefited from being early adopters of the right technologies.
  4. Start Small - Propose a pilot with a small group and a few key technologies. Success here can build momentum.
  5. Use Data - Share concrete examples of technology decisions that could have been better with a radar in place.

Remember, you're not asking for permission to make technology decisions - you're proposing a framework to make better ones. That's the kind of initiative that gets noticed.

The Long View

Technology Radar isn't just about tracking what's new - it's about building organizational muscle around technology decision-making. It's about creating a shared language for discussing technology change. And most importantly, it's about making sure you're intentional about the technologies you adopt, trial, assess, or hold.

In a world where technology choices are increasingly strategic, that's not just nice to have - it's essential for survival.

Start small, be consistent, and keep learning. The radar will help you navigate the rest.

Want to work on this?

Want to work on Technology Radar in your team or company?

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Here are other practices related to Technology Radar:

  •

    Innovation over predictability emphasizes the value of creative, novel solutions over routine, predictable outcomes in product development. Learn more

  • Team Topologies is an approach for organizing people in tech companies into effective teams. Most known for introducing four team types and three interaction modes, it aims to reduce team dependencies and manage cognitive load. Learn more

  • Platform teams serve stream-aligned teams. They offer essential services, tools, and infrastructure for other teams to deliver work with high autonomy. Learn more

  • Stream-aligned are responsible for delivering direct product value to users and customers by working on certain value stream. Learn more

  • Inner sourcing is the practice of using open-source methods within an organization, allowing teams to collaborate and share code or resources across departments to improve efficiency and innovation. Learn more

Learn more

Here are some useful links if you want to learn more:

Hope that's useful!

Piotr Kacała