Firmly entrenched silos and a combative relationship between Dev and Ops is an example of:

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 trustandpoor leadershipare symptoms of cultural debt.

Change fatigueoccurs 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