Headcount and cloud budgets, cost cuts that keep reliability, modernisation business cases and technical due diligence.
5 questions in Executive & Engineering Leadership.
Before a mid-year budget cut, establish the base: twenty percent of the annual budget can be forty percent of what remains. Then cut by portfolio, not across the board. Freeze unfilled roles, stop whole initiatives and the spend they carry, protect commitments and reliability, and explain each choice.
Agree whether thirty percent means run-rate or this year's cloud spend, absolute or per unit. Then attribute the bill, phase the cuts as quick wins, structural fixes and commitments last, and guard every change with SLO burn and a protected list. Show both the run-rate and the in-year figure.
Headcount planning starts from measured run cost per product line, not last year's shares. Fund that first, allocate the rest by each line's posture, stage bets behind gates, and plan in effective capacity, because hiring lag and attrition mean new roles add far less than their number in year one.
Technical due diligence tests the deal thesis, not code quality. Check whether the product can do what the buyer is paying for, who holds the knowledge, which security, licence and debt liabilities come with it, and what integration costs. Turn every finding into a price, condition, plan or walk-away.
Show platform ROI against a counterfactual cost: what product teams would spend doing the work themselves, measured from non-adopters. Add measured time saved, discounted because hours are capacity not cash, and consolidated licences. Report reliability separately and state the limits.