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I agree with this. 'Technical debt' always exists in the heads of the engineers: the rest of the organisation can't see it. It's an invisible problem, imagined

I agree with this. 'Technical debt' always exists in the heads of the engineers: the rest of the organisation can't see it. It's an invisible problem, imagined by the engineers, and not always in touch with the practical long-term reality. Software is a tool. Tools that are used often require maintenance, which in itself is not a novel concept. Whereas saying 'technical debt' is like delivering a dramatically vague House MD diagnosis. If you must, call it what it is – Maintenance – and let's move on.

galoisgirl 6y ago
If it exists only in the heads of the engineers, then it's not technical debt. Don't get me wrong, there are problems that mainly exist "in the heads of the engineers". Many of them want to refactor code or migrate to a newer framework or re-write for the latest buzzwords. But that's not technical debt.
ggreer 6y ago
> Software is a tool. Tools that are used often require maintenance, which in itself is not a novel concept. Yes software is a tool, but unlike physical tools, it does not wear out. Running the same code many times won't cause it to slowly degrade. What does happen with software is that as you adapt it to particular roles, if you're not careful you can make it very hard to re-adapt to new roles. A "new role" doesn't necessarily mean user-facing features. It can be as simple as running on Ubuntu instead of running on RHEL. Or it can involve using a newer (and incompatible) version of some library. It might even be as daunting as porting the software to a new language (eg: from JavaScript to TypeScript). The common analogy used to illustrate this is that of a car. If you have a typical passenger car and you need to compete in a demolition derby, you can modify that car to be a good demolition derby car. But if you're then asked to modify that car to win a track race, you'll have an easier time starting with a new unmodified passenger car than modifying your demolition derby car.
gjulianm 6y ago
> Software is a tool. Tools that are used often require maintenance, which in itself is not a novel concept. In that context, maintenance is fixing your screwdriver. Technical debt is having a fixed-head screwdriver instead of another with swappable heads: it might be ok for you if you mainly use that one, but if you're constantly needing to buy new screwdrivers and carry them, it's extra money and work. And the same as technical debt, you might decide to buy first a fixed -head screwdriver because you're not certain about your future needs and it's just cheaper and easier, and then switch to a swappable head when you are certain you need it.

galoisgirl 6y ago

If it exists only in the heads of the engineers, then it's not technical debt. Don't get me wrong, there are problems that mainly exist "in the heads of the engineers". Many of them want to refactor code or migrate to a newer framework or re-write for the latest buzzwords. But that's not technical debt.

ggreer 6y ago

> Software is a tool. Tools that are used often require maintenance, which in itself is not a novel concept. Yes software is a tool, but unlike physical tools, it does not wear out. Running the same code many times won't cause it to slowly degrade. What does happen with software is that as you adapt it to particular roles, if you're not careful you can make it very hard to re-adapt to new roles. A "new role" doesn't necessarily mean user-facing features. It can be as simple as running on Ubuntu instead of running on RHEL. Or it can involve using a newer (and incompatible) version of some library. It might even be as daunting as porting the software to a new language (eg: from JavaScript to TypeScript). The common analogy used to illustrate this is that of a car. If you have a typical passenger car and you need to compete in a demolition derby, you can modify that car to be a good demolition derby car. But if you're then asked to modify that car to win a track race, you'll have an easier time starting with a new unmodified passenger car than modifying your demolition derby car.

gjulianm 6y ago

> Software is a tool. Tools that are used often require maintenance, which in itself is not a novel concept. In that context, maintenance is fixing your screwdriver. Technical debt is having a fixed-head screwdriver instead of another with swappable heads: it might be ok for you if you mainly use that one, but if you're constantly needing to buy new screwdrivers and carry them, it's extra money and work. And the same as technical debt, you might decide to buy first a fixed -head screwdriver because you're not certain about your future needs and it's just cheaper and easier, and then switch to a swappable head when you are certain you need it.