Companies vary wildly in dealing with tech debt - from allocating time every week to ignoring it altogether.
If you've worked in software long enough, you've experienced what happens when tech debt isn't prioritized.
Systems slow down, development suffers, and gremlins emerge after every release.
In fact, tech debt was the root cause for the $1 BILLION breakdown in Southwest Airline's reservation system.
So, how can you help advocate for tech debt and ensure it gets prioritized?
Why Tech Debt Gets Ignored
Tech debt is tricky to explain, especially to those without a tech background. Because it is difficult to articulate, it tends to get dropped.
Here are the top reasons why tech debt gets deprioritized:
- Lack of Clear ROI: It's hard to show how fixing tech debt directly boosts profits or growth since its benefits are more about avoiding future costs and problems.
- Immediate Business Needs: Short-term goals and the push for new features often overshadow the less visible, long-term health of the software, leading to more tech debt.
- Visibility and Urgency: Tech debt builds up quietly and doesn't seem urgent until it causes significant issues, making it easy to ignore until it's too late.
Knowing why tech debt work gets dropped can help you prepare for your next prioritization meeting.
The 3 Pillars of Tech Debt
Now that we understand why tech debt isn't prioritized, let's learn how to change our thinking about it to help connect it to the rest of the business.
Tech debt can be divided into 3 main categories. These pillars help us communicate why the organization should work on addressing technical debt.
- Security: Address risks associated with outdated libraries or frameworks and the importance of security updates.
- Speed: faster development cycles and quicker time to market.
- Quality: Improved software stability and user experience.
The fantastic thing about these three categories is that they help you evaluate the most important work for your company.
For example, getting traction on a tech debt story to refactor and simplify a component shows that your team and company value development speed.
You can utilize multiple buckets for a tech debt story, but be careful communicating something as a "magic bullet." What is the most impactful bucket for the work you want to bring in? |
How Do You Advocate For Tech Debt?
To champion tech debt effectively, connect it directly to business benefits in security, speed, and quality, making it a crucial part of strategic planning.
How do you push for tech debt prioritization? Reply to this email. I read and respond personally to each one.
