Thanks for the well-written article and the great analogy! 👏
I really like how you focus on the effects on developers from the psychological viewpoint. It is rarely talked about, but extremely important!
About selling the idea of cleaning technical debt to non-tech people: I have always tried to convince managers to prioritize it by equating technical debt with actual financial debt. As time goes by, the interest on the debt accumulates (bugs) and they are not able to spend (develop features) as much as they need. Until eventually they have to declare bankruptcy.
As you said, sometimes it is ok to carry debt. But it has to be clear what the interest rate is and what is the plan for repaying it.
Thanks for the well-written article and the great analogy! 👏
I really like how you focus on the effects on developers from the psychological viewpoint. It is rarely talked about, but extremely important!
About selling the idea of cleaning technical debt to non-tech people: I have always tried to convince managers to prioritize it by equating technical debt with actual financial debt. As time goes by, the interest on the debt accumulates (bugs) and they are not able to spend (develop features) as much as they need. Until eventually they have to declare bankruptcy.
As you said, sometimes it is ok to carry debt. But it has to be clear what the interest rate is and what is the plan for repaying it.
thanks for this interesting addition!
Converting code debt to money or hours of work is legit the best way I’ve used to convince managers to prioritize debt. :)
Do you wanna spend 2 Hours now, or 50 in 6 months?