The Debt Model of Organisations
A framework for understanding organisational execution.
The Debt Model of Organisations
Modern organisations accumulate multiple forms of debt that reduce their ability to deliver outcomes. While technical debt is widely understood in engineering, organisational systems also accumulate human and execution debt that can quietly undermine performance.
The Debt Model of Organisations, developed through the work of Duena Blomstrom, describes how different layers of organisational debt interact. For the full framework including all concept relationships, see the Human Debt Framework.
The Layers of Organisational Debt
Brand or Experience Debt
The gap between the promises an organisation makes to customers and the experience it actually delivers.
Technical Debt
The structural compromises that accumulate inside technology systems and make them increasingly difficult to modify or evolve. Technical Debt slows systems.
Read more about Technical Debt in the frameworkHuman Debt
The organisational friction that accumulates when teams cannot operate with trust, psychological safety and clear decision processes. Human Debt slows organisations.
Read more about Human DebtExecution Debt
The execution risk that emerges when Human Debt and Technical Debt begin to reinforce each other. Organisations know what needs to be done but struggle to deliver it.
Read more about Execution DebtFurther Reading
The concept of Human Debt was introduced by Duena Blomstrom in the book People Before Tech. Human Work, Execution Debt and Adoption Performance extend this framework to understanding organisational execution in complex digital and AI-enabled environments.