The Tech Black Hole
Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope @hubblespacetelescope on Unsplash
Software development is typically more of a marathon than a series of sprints (seriously, Agile isn’t working).
Deadlines loom, business priorities shift, and the codebase becomes something like a junk drawer where everything is placed without order or thought. All those suboptimal decisions which developers rationalized as “temporary fixes” pile up and become tomorrow’s problem.
The mess is out of sight, sure, but it’s still there, breeding bugs, slowing progress, and is essentially a trap for anyone who dares reach for long-term solutions.
The Hidden Costs of Debt
Unlike financial debt, technical debt doesn’t come with a clear interest rate and the costs are not determined at the time the tech debt comes to pass.
So, for those who don’t know, here is the likely cost of tech debt.
Development Delays
Need to add a feature? Good luck navigating the spaghetti code that’s already there. You might not have known that the codebase was so difficult to navigate and as a result have unrealistic estimate of the time to complete the work.
Spiraling
Fix one thing, break five others. Of course the bug is tech debt, but so is the lack of tests.
Developer Frustration
We’ve all left poor codebases in place when we’ve moved onto a new project.
Sometimes it is because we have simply given up battling with wider teams who perceive tech debt as cost and a string with no end. So after the game of using duct tape for sprint after sprint no wonder developers get bored of saying that it’s time to fix the leaky pipe.
How We Got Here
The root causes of technical debt vary but tend to boil down to the following:
Short-Term Thinking
Shipping is prioritized over sustainability, and a “forget the future” culture is rampant in tech.
Poor Team Communication
Misaligned priorities lead to inconsistent coding practices and “LGTM” code reviews.
Over-reliance on Deadlines
Developers race against the clock, cutting corners to meet unrealistic expectations.
Solutions
Addressing technical debt isn’t glamorous, but it’s necessary. Here’s how we can start to make a difference.
Prioritize Refactoring
Make it a part of the development cycle, not an afterthought. Get buy-in for this.
Establish Standards
Create clear coding conventions that reduce entropy and see that these are enforced.
Allocate Time for Maintenance
Dedicate a portion of each sprint to tackling technical debt and stick to this.
Educate Stakeholders
Help non-technical folks understand the hidden costs of ignoring tech debt.
Why It Matters
Every software company talks about innovation, but without a solid foundation, your innovation is built on quicksand. Technical debt isn’t just a developer problem and represents a business risk that can put features, products and companies in danger. The longer you leave unaddressed tech debt, the bigger the cleanup and the greater the chance of irreparable damage.
Conclusion
A codebase is usually the outcome of a team’s vision and work. When it’s a mess it represents a lack of communication and agreed standards within a team. A tidy codebase represents a healthy project and frequently has happy developers working on it.
Next time someone suggests ignoring technical debt, remind them: the skeletons in the closet don’t go away just because you’ve shut the door.