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:

1. Innovation Trigger: New technology emerges
2. Peak of Inflated Expectations: Hype exceeds reality
3. Trough of Disillusionment: Reality sets in
4. Slope of Enlightenment: Practical use cases emerge
5. 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

## 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