What is technical debt?

What is technical debt?

Technical debt is the result of taking shortcuts in dealing with technical issues. When developers choose to address issues with short-term solutions instead of taking the longer route to extinguish the issue at the grassroots level, technical debt arises. As priority shifts from meeting immediate deadlines over the quality of code, technical debt keeps piling up, and with time, it results in increased challenges and even more work for the dev team.   

Causes of technical debt

The main causes of technical debt are as follows: 

• Unclear project requirements

• No adherence to code standards 

• Improper documentation

• Lack of proper quality checks 

• Lack of sufficient training 

Unclear project requirements

Technical projects tend to be complex. Developers get handed newer directives every second. With no proper guidelines, developers end up facing challenges in figuring out the exact requirements, which results in developing features based on assumptions. This not only consumes time and valuable resources but also results in redundant features, which further complicate the code. Developers are then required to spend more time correcting their mistakes instead of utilizing their creativity for innovative solutions.       

No adherence to code standards 

Amid the technicalities and complexities of projects, code standards often get overlooked, which results in inconsistencies and a lack of uniformity in the codebase. This is often due to tight deadlines that the developers have to meet, leaving limited time for understanding and modifying the code. When this happens regularly, technical debt starts to accumulate. 

Improper documentation

When code documentation is incomplete, developers find it difficult to understand and maintain the code. The absence of clear documentation ultimately results in developers making errors while making modifications to the code. Developers are required to put in more effort in deciphering the code, increasing the likelihood of more issues. With the help of proper documentation, however, developers have a better understanding of the structure of the codebase.  

Lack of proper quality checks 

Developers need to pass their codes through quality checks in order to ensure their correctness and functionality. Overlooking quality checks results in inefficiencies within the codebase. When these issues go unnoticed, they accumulate over time and then demand even more resources for their rectification.   

Lack of sufficient training 

When developers receive inadequate training, they resort to using outdated methods to fix bugs that could potentially lead to a code full of mistakes. To mitigate their mistakes, developers might be required to put in additional effort within an already overbooked schedule. With proper training, however, developers are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to produce efficient code. 

How to measure technical debt

There is no tangible way to measure technical debt. However, there are some indicators that reveal the magnitude of technical debt and some of them are as follows:  

• Delay in releases

• Increase in bug reports 

• Reduced team productivity 

• Difficulty in code maintenance 

Delay in releases

As developers spend more time addressing issues with complex code, their work on product features gets pushed back and inadvertently leads to delays in the scheduled release. This directly impacts the product cycle, resulting in extended-release timelines. Consequently, the dev team’s ability to adapt to market changes and user needs is reduced, and they’re faced with prolonged intervals between feature updates.  

Increase in bug reports 

One of the major consequences of ignoring technical debt is that there’s an increase in bug reports. As unresolved issues in the codebase persist, this leaves systems open to vulnerabilities. This is detrimental for users because their software experience becomes riddled with frequent issues. For developers, this increase in bug reports demands immediate attention to ensure software stability and reliability.      

Reduced team productivity 

When developers spend too much time fixing inefficient and outdated codes, they end up having much less time working on new and more important tasks. This directly leaves an impact on team productivity and even morale. Continuously working on poor-quality code can make members feel as if their skills are being underutilized as they’re always fixing instead of developing new features or tasks.  

Difficulty in maintaining code 

It can become increasingly difficult to maintain the quality of code when it’s always riddled with inconsistencies and issues. Because teams need to simultaneously address issues that keep accumulating before they can implement any solution, maintaining the software in good quality becomes a time-consuming task.  

Final word

Managing technical debt is one of the vital elements in ensuring the smooth running of the development process. When technical debt is managed at the right time, teams can work their best to make sure the projects run smoothly and that the integrity of the code is maintained for future scalability. This paves the way for innovation instead of continuously working on issues that never seem to see the end of the day. For this reason, developers need to make sure that they systematically examine the codebase with regular code reviews.