Your Guide to manage Technical Debt

As a software engineer, I’ve seen how technical debt can quietly grow, causing projects to become harder to maintain, costly to scale, and challenging to enhance over time. Here, I’d like to share some insights on managing technical debt to help you balance speed with sustainability.

What is technical debt?

Technical debt is the accumulation of sub-optimal or expedient solutions in software development that can slow future progress and increase costs. It’s like borrowing time from the future by taking shortcuts today. While it may seem beneficial to cut corners and deliver features faster, the hidden costs can eventually outweigh the benefits if left unchecked.

What factors cause tech debt buildup?

Deadline pressure: Tight schedules often lead to shortcuts, resulting in prioritizing speed over quality.
Lack of experience: Developers might inadvertently write code that isn’t efficient or maintainable.
Changing scope: Shifting requirements can make previous code obsolete or incompatible.
Temporary solutions: Quick fixes, intended as temporary, often become permanent, accumulating debt over time.
Ignoring code quality: Ignoring standards and best practices can make code difficult to read and maintain.
Outdated technologies: Relying on deprecated tech makes maintenance and integration with new tools challenging.
Inadequate testing: Insufficient tests can leave bugs and vulnerabilities, making the codebase fragile.
Lack of documentation: Lack of knowledge sharing or missing documentation makes it harder for developers to understand and maintain the system.
Manual processes: Lack of automation in builds, deployments, or CI/CD pipelines slows down delivery and increases the chance of human error.

Technical Debt Map

Best Practices to manage and reduce technical debt:

Regular code reviews: Regularly reviewing code helps identify potential debt early on. It ensures adherence to coding standards and promotes knowledge sharing within the team.
Automated testing: Automated tests act as a safety net, preventing the introduction of new issues when making changes. Invest in a solid test suite covering unit, integration, and end-to-end tests.
Refactoring: Refactoring involves cleaning up existing code without changing its functionality. It improves readability, reduces complexity, and makes future changes easier.
Document debt: Keep track of known technical debt. Documenting it in a backlog helps prioritize debt repayment as part of your sprint planning.
Align with business objectives: Not all technical debt needs to be paid off immediately. Focus on debt that hinders your ability to deliver business value.
Technology upgrades: Plan regular updates to your tech stack to avoid falling behind. Upgrading libraries, frameworks, and dependencies keeps your project secure and maintainable.
Modularity and design patterns: Use modular design patterns to reduce coupling between components. Clean architecture principles ensure your code is flexible and easier to extend.
Collective code ownership: Encourage team members to take responsibility for the entire codebase. This practice fosters a sense of ownership and improves code quality across the board.
Avoid over-engineering: Building overly complex solutions for hypothetical scenarios can lead to unnecessary debt. Focus on what’s needed today, and iterate as requirements evolve.

Tools to Track Technical Debt

There are several ways to track technical debt, and while many tools exist, leveraging existing solutions is often more cost-effective:

Project management tools: Platforms like Jira, Asana, GitHub Issues, and Azure DevOps can help track and prioritize technical debt. Specialized tools such as Stepsize, CodeScene provide deeper insights.
Automated code analysis tools: Tools like SonarQube can automatically detect code issues, security vulnerabilities, and other potential debt areas.
Manual tracking methods: You can use simple methods like Excel or Miro for strategic debt while using platforms like Jira for tactical debt. The key is to choose a system that’s easy to update and accessible to your team.

Conclusion

Technical debt is an inevitable part of software development, but it doesn’t have to be a blocker. By adopting best practices, prioritizing refactoring, and fostering a culture of code quality, you can manage and reduce technical debt effectively. This approach not only improves the maintainability of your codebase but also enhances your team’s agility in delivering new features.

Remember, managing technical debt is a continuous process — it’s about making incremental improvements that pay off in the long run.