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This is a nice but very long exploration of the tech debt metaphor, raising several excellent points. I especially like comparing it with the business uses of a
by wpietri 3y ago
This is a nice but very long exploration of the tech debt metaphor, raising several excellent points. I especially like comparing it with the business uses of actual debt.
The only thing I think I'd add to it is that like actual debt, a lot of people do not behave sensibly with tech debt. One of my big tests in any new job is the first time a product manager wants to put something on credit. E.g., "We have to add feature X right now so we can land a big client. Can we cut corners to get this out the door? We'll sort out the mess later."
Despite things like this making my eyelid twitch, I'll always tell a new product manager yes the first time they ask this. But then I watch carefully to see if they're conscientious about paying down the debt. Some of them are great about it, prioritizing the deferred work. Others, though, always have a next emergency. But in my view if it's always an emergency it never is, and so I never again trust them with the tech-debt credit card.
- seadan83 3y agoI like that litmus test. Another thing I notice is organizations where PMs are assigned to projects as they come up. Meaning, "please cut these corners so I can launch sooner, get all the credit, then move on." In this case obviously the PM does not have to deal with the fallout, and then the next guy says, "I know this code base is tough, it wasn't by doing, please just try hard and get this feature out" The other big things I watch for is how much is shipping on time valued, is that the only metric of success? Further, when ROI is calculated, is the return ever actually factored in?
- automatic6131 3y agoTbh, cutting corners to land new revenue, if it's sufficiently big, sounds like the prime reason to take on tech debt. It's arguably just like a loan to make a new factory line to expand production for new sales or whatever. For sure, if it's a small client or far from a sure thing, then yeah it's bad. Like anything, a judgement call about where the cost benefit ratio lies.