Cultural debt—not just low trust or poor leadership—best describes the scenario of entrenched silos
and combative Dev/Ops relations.
Cultural debt leads to resistance to new ways of working, lack of cooperation, and a focus on
individual rather than collective success.
Why not the others?
Low trust and poor leadership are symptoms of cultural debt.
Change fatigue occurs after repeated failed initiatives; here, the core issue is cultural stasis.
Reference/Extract:
“DevOps transformation often fails without addressing cultural debt. Breaking down silos, building
shared understanding, and changing incentives are essential for sustainable change.”
— DevOps Handbook, State of DevOps Report, PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 Section 3.4
