TIL Technical Debt isn't a problem, it's a tool
POSTED ON:
Unlearn what you know about technical debt
Many people hate technical debt.
This is nonsense. They don’t know how to take advantage of it.
When used appropriately, technical debt means working on what truly matters and deferring anything that can wait
It's a very junior-level thing to assume all technical debt is bad. It's like assuming all debt is bad.
Senior devs know how to make trade-offs.
It's okay to acquire technical debt if:
- You need to push something out of the door.
- This project has a limited lifespan. (Maybe the app has a 1-year lifespan)
- You're just not in the right position to solve it now
I think about the business cases.
Look at it from the math perspective:
- App is completely perfect (no tech debt) that took 6 months to launch.
6 months of development.
6 months of market.
or
- A app that launches quickly, but tech debt?
2 months of development.
10 months of market.
(4 months of refactoring.)
You want to know why games launch buggy? Because no matter what you see/hear online, people still pay for buggy launches if at the end, the product is good.
VIA
Lessons learned from the smartest Software Engineer I’ve met
Related TILs
Tagged: tech-debt