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Demystifying Technical Debt in Software Development: A Comprehensive Overview
Demystifying Technical Debt in Software Development: A Comprehensive Overview

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A simplified perspective on technical debt and strategies for monitoring and managing them effectively.

Recently, you may have encountered the term ‘Tech Debt' more frequently, as it is a critical concept to comprehend business stability. Engineering organizations are now more inclined towards delivering projects quickly. This swift approach to completing work can reflect on efficiency and directly affect the quality of the end product. In compensation, teams need to refactor or finish some of the previously procrastinated work, which was left behind, for faster development.

The concept revolves around two major factors in any project i.e., time and cost. Sometimes, organizations take deliberate decisions to incur technical debt with a positive intention, yet this must be a well-calculated risk. The following sections will offer deeper insights into what technical debt is and how it can be avoided or handled.

Technical Debt Explained

Technical debt or tech debt is a situation that arises when companies, teams, or developers skip general development practices for short-term goals. This tendency to bypass ideal development and choose shortcuts for temporary solutions will resurface in the future as more intricate problems incur higher costs in the long run.

Simply, when you prioritize speedy delivery over perfect code there are certain consequences that you will face and this is where your debt starts to slowly increase over time. However, when companies plan with proper strategy and be rational, tech debts can turn out to be beneficial too.

The Technical Debt Quadrant

The debt quadrant is inevitable when speaking of technical debt. Though many organizations do not believe in the tech debt quadrant, this concept by Martin Fowler can help software development teams manage technical debt.

The tech debt quadrant is divided into four key terms namely
Reckless, Prudent, Deliberate, and Inadvertent. Below given is the image which reflects Martin Fowlers’s quadrant ideology.

Tech Debt Quadrant
  1. Prudent and Deliberate: In this quadrant, organizations intentionally make decisions that lead to a speedy process and incur tech debt. Teams need to have more clarity on the risks they are about to take and ensure future alignment with established plans. For example, a development team might opt a third-party library that is known to have some technical debt, yet also delivers substantial value to the application.
  2. Reckless and Uninformed: This quadrant represents a technical debt that has been incurred without adequate consideration of its long-term consequences. For instance, a development team might opt for a hasty solution that solves an immediate problem, unaware of the potential issues it may cause in the future.
  3. Prudent and Unintentional: The third quadrant is a technical debt that has been incurred despite the development team’s best efforts. For instance, a development team may encounter challenges when working with legacy code or an outdated system that was not originally designed to handle the requirements of the current application.
  4. Reckless and Deliberate: The fourth and final quadrant represents a debt that has been consciously and intentionally incurred despite knowing that the cost of future remediation will outweigh the short-term benefits of the shortcut. This quadrant possesses the greatest risks, as it demonstrates a lack of responsibility and a disregard for the long-term stability of the system.

The tech debt quadrant can be a useful tool for software development teams to assess the impact of technical debt on their application and prioritize efforts to address it. To make well-informed decisions regarding the management of technical debt, organizations have to determine which quadrant their technical debt resides.

While these are the 4 quadrants of technical debts, there are 13 different types of debts which are mentioned below.

  1. Code Debt
  2. Build Debt
  3. Documentation Debt
  4. Design Debt
  5. Infrastructure Debt
  6. Requirement Debt
  7. Test Debt
  8. Architecture Debt
  9. Process Debt
  10. People Debt
  11. Test Automation Debt
  12. Defect Debt
  13. Service Debt

Factors Contributing to Technical Debt

Technical debt usually arises when developers take shortcuts during the development process. These shortcuts are taken to increase agility, but they often lead to an increase in costs and complexities in the future. Several factors can contribute to technical debt. Here are a few examples.

  1. Tight Deadlines: When development teams face tight deadlines, they may resort to shortcuts to accelerate the development process. This can lead to technical debt if the shortcuts undermine the overall quality of the software.
     
  2. Incomplete Requirements: Incomplete or vague requirements can lead to ambiguities and uncertainties in the software design, which can result in additional costs and complexities in the future.
     
  3. Lack of Testing: If a software project is not thoroughly tested, it can result in undetected bugs and errors, which can cause additional costs and complexities down the line.
     
  4. Lack of Documentation: Skipping the documentation process can make it difficult for developers to maintain and update the software in the future, which can lead to additional costs and complexities.
     
  5. Code Complexity: Complex codes with poor design can have a negative impact on the longevity of the software resulting in the need for extra costs after the project is completed.
     
  6. Use of Outdated Technology: Software projects built using outdated technology or software can add unnecessary complications during modernization and result in additional costs and complexities.
     
  7. Lack of Communication: If there is a lack of communication between the development team and other stakeholders, such as project managers or business analysts, it can result in misunderstandings and mistakes that lead to technical debt.
     
  8. Changing Requirements: Frequent changes in requirements during the development process can lead to additional costs and complexities. To address this, the development team has to modify the software to meet the new requirements.

Simple Ways to Manage Tech Debts

Once you or your organization has committed mistakes to attract technical debts, it is important to strategically manage them. We have some suggestions to help you effectively manage tech debts and prevent them from becoming a significant concern.

  1. Fix Important Issues First: Identify the most critical parts of your software system that need to be addressed first. Prioritizing will help you focus on the most important areas that require immediate attention.
     
  2. Incremental Refactoring: Instead of a complete renovation, work on refactoring your codebase incrementally. This will help you avoid adding new tech debt while reducing existing debt.
     
  3. Test Automation: Implement automated testing to proactively detect potential issues and prevent the accumulation of new technical debt. Automated testing can play a crucial role in detecting bugs earlier in the development cycle, leading to time and cost savings in the long run.
     
  4. Regular Code Review: Conduct regular code reviews to identify areas that need improvement. By doing so, you can identify areas that may create problems in the future and address them before they become significant issues.
     
  5. Communicate with Clarity: Ensure that all stakeholders are well-informed of the tech debt and clearly explain its potential impact on the project and the timeline required to address it. This will help manage expectations and prevent any surprises that could jeopardise the project's success.
     
  6. Continuous Improvement: Establish processes to address tech debt as part of your development cycle. The goal should be to continuously improve and reduce debt over time, rather than addressing it solely when it becomes problematic.

Wrap Up

Types of Tech Debt

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