STD-GOV-126: Technology Lifecycle Management
| Field |
Value |
| Standard |
STD-GOV-126 |
| Title |
Technology Lifecycle Management |
| Status |
Draft |
| Owner |
CDO |
| Created |
2026-04-03 |
| Review |
Annually |
Purpose
Establish a governed lifecycle for all technologies in Simpaisa's estate, aligned with the Technology Radar. Every technology — language, framework, database, tool or service — must have a clear lifecycle stage, an owner and defined criteria for advancement or retirement. This prevents technology sprawl, ensures timely migration away from end-of-life components and gives engineering teams clear guidance on what to use.
Scope
All technologies across Simpaisa's platform: programming languages, frameworks, databases, message brokers, cloud services, CI/CD tooling, observability stack, security tools and third-party SaaS. Applies to all markets (PK, BD, NP, IQ, EG).
Lifecycle Stages
Technologies progress through five stages aligned with the Technology Radar:
Assess → Trial → Adopt → Hold → Retire
Stage Definitions
| Stage |
Description |
Duration Limit |
Owner |
| Assess |
Under evaluation. No production use. Proof-of-concept permitted. |
6 months max |
Proposing engineer |
| Trial |
Approved for limited production use in non-critical paths. |
12 months max |
Team lead |
| Adopt |
Recommended for broad use. Default choice for its category. |
Indefinite |
Platform Team |
| Hold |
Not recommended for new projects. Existing use maintained but not expanded. |
12 months max |
Platform Team |
| Retire |
Actively being removed. Migration plan in progress. |
18 months max |
Migration owner |
Stage Transitions
| Transition |
Trigger |
Approval Required |
| Assess → Trial |
Successful PoC, documented benefits, security review pass |
Platform Lead |
| Trial → Adopt |
Proven in production, team capability confirmed, TCO acceptable |
ARB |
| Adopt → Hold |
Better alternative identified, vendor risk, EOL announced |
ARB |
| Hold → Retire |
Migration plan approved, replacement technology in Adopt |
ARB |
| Any → Assess |
Major version with breaking changes requiring re-evaluation |
Platform Lead |
Entry Criteria per Stage
Assess
- Written proposal: problem statement, candidate technology, alternatives considered.
- No production data or traffic.
- Time-boxed PoC plan (maximum 4 weeks).
- Security team notified for licence and vulnerability review.
Trial
- PoC results documented with measurable outcomes.
- Security review completed — no critical or high vulnerabilities unresolved.
- Licence compliance confirmed (see
STD-GOV-129).
- Operational runbook drafted.
- Monitoring and alerting configured.
Adopt
- Minimum 3 months in Trial with no significant issues.
- At least 2 engineers proficient (bus factor ≥ 2).
- Full operational runbook, backup and disaster recovery procedures.
- Performance benchmarks documented.
- ARB approval recorded as ADR.
Hold
- Replacement technology identified and in Adopt or Trial stage.
- No new projects may select this technology.
- Existing usage inventory documented.
Retire
- Migration plan with timeline, cost estimate and risk assessment.
- Sunset date communicated to all affected teams.
- Downstream consumer notification completed.
- Data migration or archival plan in place.
Exit Criteria per Stage
Assess Exit
- PoC completed and results documented, OR 6-month limit reached and technology discarded.
Trial Exit
- Promoted to Adopt with ARB approval, OR moved to Hold/discarded if Trial unsuccessful.
Adopt Exit
- Moved to Hold when a superior alternative is identified and approved by ARB.
Hold Exit
- Moved to Retire when migration plan is approved, OR returned to Adopt if circumstances change.
Retire Exit
- All instances removed from production. No remaining dependencies. Decommissioned.
Technology Radar Review
- Cadence: Quarterly, conducted at the ARB meeting.
- Input: Engineering team submissions, vendor announcements, security advisories, industry trends.
- Output: Updated
TECHNOLOGY-RADAR.md with stage changes and rationale.
- Communication: Changes announced in
#engineering Slack channel within 48 hours of ARB meeting.
Current Technology Inventory (Summary)
| Technology |
Category |
Stage |
Owner |
Notes |
| Go 1.22 |
Language |
Adopt |
Platform Team |
Primary backend language |
| SurrealDB |
Database |
Adopt |
Platform Team |
Primary data store |
| NSQ |
Message broker |
Adopt |
Platform Team |
Async messaging |
| KrakenD |
API Gateway |
Adopt |
Platform Team |
External API gateway |
| React 18 |
Frontend |
Adopt |
Frontend Lead |
Merchant portal |
| Trivy |
Security |
Adopt |
Security Lead |
Container scanning |
| Kafka |
Message broker |
Retire |
Platform Team |
Migrating to NSQ |
Actions
| # |
Action |
Owner |
Deadline |
| 1 |
Complete full technology inventory |
Platform Lead |
2026-Q2 |
| 2 |
Assign owners to all Assess and Trial technologies |
Platform Lead |
2026-Q2 |
| 3 |
Publish first quarterly Technology Radar update |
ARB |
2026-Q2 |
| 4 |
Create automated alerts for duration limit breaches |
Platform Lead |
2026-Q3 |
References
TECHNOLOGY-RADAR.mdSTD-GOV-124-ARCHITECTURE-REVIEW-BOARD-CHARTER.mdSTD-GOV-125-TECHNICAL-DEBT-MANAGEMENT.mdSTD-GOV-129-OPEN-SOURCE-POLICY.md