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When anything except new features is called "tech debt" I think Ward Cunningham's analogy has been stretched too far. It's supposed to mean forgoing needed work
by drewcoo 7y ago
When anything except new features is called "tech debt" I think Ward Cunningham's analogy has been stretched too far. It's supposed to mean forgoing needed work now with the intent to do it later. People should balk at unexpected bugs or unplanned refactoring being called that.
- Forge36 7y agoOccasionally the new feature's debt is never paid. I'm cleaning up a location which has had this happen 30+ times over 20 years. It resulted in 15+ sightly different ways of doing the same thing. Much of this without a function call in sight. I've been splitting functions out of it slowly reducing the 80+ variables into discrete behaviors. It's now unit testable. I'm often asked why can't I add something quickly, pointing to this file is more than enough reason for all but the most important projects to agree to wait. What should I call this if not Technical Debt?
- ebcode 7y agoNot sure, but "hubris" sounds pretty good.
- regularfry 7y agoIt is tech debt, it just wasn't taken on as a debt intentionally. It's like going wild with a credit card - it's debt, but there was no rational thought as to what the consequences would be or how it would be repaid.