The 15-Minute Code Health Check: What Every CTO/CEO Must Know

As a CEO or CTO, you don't need to be a programmer to assess the health of your codebase. Just like you can evaluate your company's financial health without being an accountant, you can quickly gain insight into the state of your software development with the right questions.

This 15-minute health check helps you identify critical problems before they slow down your business or require costly redevelopment.

Question 1: How often is code deployed to production?

• Healthy sign: Multiple times per week or daily
• Warning: Only with major releases (monthly or less)
• Red flag: "We can't deploy often because it's too risky"

Why this matters: Frequent, small deployments indicate a stable, well-tested codebase. Large, infrequent releases suggest technical debt and fragile systems.

Question 2: How long does it take to add a small feature?

• Healthy sign: Developers can give a realistic estimate
• Warning: "It depends" is the standard answer
• Red flag: Simple features take weeks instead of days

Question 3: Can new team members become productive quickly?

• Healthy sign: New developers can contribute within a week
• Warning: It takes weeks to understand the codebase
• Red flag: "Only senior developers can work on this project"

Question 4: What happens if a key developer leaves?

Ask this question directly to your development team. If the answer is laughter or silence, you have a problem. Healthy codebases survive the departure of individual team members.

Question 5: How long does it take to get the application running locally?

• Healthy sign: A new developer can run it within an hour
• Warning: It requires a full day of setup
• Red flag: "We have a special machine for that" or "That never works on the first day"

Question 6: Can you easily roll back to a previous version?

If the answer is "We've never done that," or if panic ensues at the idea, then your deployment process isn't robust enough.

Question 7: How do you test if something works?

• Healthy sign: Automated tests + manual verification for important flows
• Warning: Only manual testing
• Red flag: "We test in production" or "Customers will find the bugs"

Question 8: How much time do developers spend fixing bugs vs building new features?

If more than 40% of time goes to bug fixes, you're probably dealing with technical debt that's growing exponentially.

Question 9: Are there parts of the code that no one dares to touch anymore?

Every codebase has some "legacy" code somewhere, but if there are entire modules that are "too dangerous" to modify, then you're paying a high price for stability.

Question 10: How often do you get "mysterious" bugs that no one can reproduce?

Sporadic, unexplainable bugs are often symptoms of race conditions, memory leaks, or other fundamental architectural problems. In short: not good.

What To Do With Your Findings

Green Light (0-2 warnings)

Your team works professionally. Consider periodic health checks to maintain this level.

Yellow Light (3-5 warnings)

There are areas for improvement, but no crisis. Plan targeted improvements in the coming quarters.

Red Light (6+ warnings or a red flag)

You probably have significant technical debt. Consider an external audit to determine the exact scope and establish a roadmap for improvement.

Frequently Asked Questions

"My team says everything is fine, but I still have doubts..."
Trust your instincts. Developers are often used to problems and no longer see them as abnormal. A fresh outside perspective can be valuable.

"We're a startup, can we afford perfect code?"
Not perfect code, but maintainable code, yes. The costs of rebuilding later are usually higher than doing it right from the start. On the other hand: the costs of building something nobody uses - that's not something to be happy about either.

"How often should I do this check?"
Roughly: Every quarter for growing companies, every six months for stable organizations. Some time after major changes in team or architecture is also a good moment.

The Next Step

This 15-minute check gives you a snapshot of your current situation, but if you've found red flags, a deeper analysis is needed. A professional audit can tell you exactly where the problems lie and how best to address them.

Remember: the goal is not to control your development team, but as a business leader to understand the risks and opportunities in your software development. Just like you monitor your finances, sales pipeline, and HR metrics, your software development deserves the same attention.

A healthy codebase and development environment is not a luxury - it's the foundation for scalable growth. Invest in it now, before problems slow down your business.