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As an industry, software development needs to get better at cleaning up TODOs. This is especially bad when business needs take prime spot always. Sometimes, tec
by Olreich 5y ago
As an industry, software development needs to get better at cleaning up TODOs. This is especially bad when business needs take prime spot always. Sometimes, technical health needs to take priority and drive down these issues. If there’s confidence in the organization that we can take on some tech debt and pay it down a little bit later, then you can move faster (just like leverage in finances). It’s when the debt you take on is so great or so well swept under the rug that it turns into a monster and ruins your day. If the tech debt items are allowed to live forever, the org gets into the position of quickly maxing out their credit and never being able to add more debt which slows delivery.
In the scrum world, prioritizing a feature story over a debt story should require a strong reason with significant debate. Don’t let them live longer than a couple of sprints.
- pydry 5y agoI don't think there is any substitute for experience in this matter. Some hacks are fine to last essentially forever, some should never be allowed to happen and others are probably ok but only if they get unwound in under a week. It's rarely obvious which ones are which until you've felt the pain. I tend to believe that hacks that undermine the integrity of your data are the absolute worst (which is why my reaction to this was so visceral) but can sense I might just be a product of my environment - different industries and use cases vary quite wildly in their expectations of quality and attitudes to failure. Agree about Scrum. It creates a very high cost to unwind any tech debt that can't be smuggled into a story.