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(max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px"/><img alt="" class="bh mq nw c" width="700" height="591" loading="eager" role="presentation"/></picture></div></div><figcaption class="nx ff ny nj nk nz oa bf b bg z du">Photo by <a class="af ob" href="https://unsplash.com/@leekos?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Kostiantyn Li</a> on <a class="af ob" href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><p id="e3b2" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Let’s step into one of your eng team’s “architecture sync” meetings together.</p><p id="1bb2" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">I’m sure there’s a running doc of all the work that needs to be done to get the codebase to an “acceptable” state.</p><p id="812a" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">The meeting gets underway, and someone pulls up that doc. The team did their job prepping for the meeting, and there are some fresh updates to show for it — three new items added to the ever-expanding bullet list.</p><p id="929d" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Taken all together, the list probably represents a good two years of work. And that’s if you completely halted movement on every other initiative.</p><p id="0aab" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Clearly it’s unrealistic to do it all. Also clearly, all these items must not be <em class="oy">that</em> important, else the system would have already imploded.</p><p id="1404" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Yet, the team echoes the same tired refrain.</p><blockquote class="oz"><p id="8b4b" class="pa pb gu bf pc pd pe pf pg ph pi ox du">“If we don’t fix this now, we’re <em class="pj">doomed!</em>”</p></blockquote><p id="0391" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs pk og oh hv pl oj ok ol pm on oo op pn or os ot po ov ow ox gn bk">[Note: “doomed” may be replaced with more colorful language.]</p><p id="5009" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Look, here’s the reality that most engineering teams don’t want to face: your tech debt probably isn’t the crisis you think it is. While you’re spending months polishing code that’s already doing its job, your competitors are shipping features and stealing your customers. That “temporary” solution from six months ago? It’s still running just fine. That hacky prototype someone threw together? Users don’t care how ugly it is under the hood.</p><p id="cd16" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Most tech debt isn’t a crisis — it’s just a convenient excuse to avoid making harder decisions about what really matters for your business.</p><h1 id="2647" class="pp pq gu bf pr ps pt hu pu pv pw hx px py pz qa qb qc qd qe qf qg qh qi qj qk bk">You’re overreacting (probably)</h1><p id="add1" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">Everyone’s always screaming about all this technical debt like it’s a five-alarm fire. But most of the time, it’s just smoke. And you’re choking your <a class="af ob" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank" href="/stop-trying-to-innovate-iterate-instead-c6781ec506d2">innovation</a> to death trying to prevent any semblance of <a class="af ob" href="https://medium.com/swlh/technically-is-the-worst-kind-of-correct-9c2dbbbb414e" rel="noopener">imperfection</a>.</p><h2 id="d7b3" class="qq pq gu bf pr qr qs dy pu qt qu ea px ol qv qw qx op qy qz ra ot rb rc rd re bk">The “crisis” usually isn’t one</h2><p id="6355" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">Remember when your team spent three weeks refactoring that “unmaintainable” service last year? The one that was supposedly going to collapse at any moment?</p><p id="f4d6" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">But — for how many <em class="oy">years</em> has $#@! been “about to” hit the fan?</p><p id="2e70" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">What about the (purposefully) rushed prototype that one engineer threw together five hackathons ago? It was <em class="oy">supposed</em> to just be a <a class="af ob" href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/proof-of-concept-POC" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">proof of concept</a>. As such, somewhat expectedly, it provided <em class="oy">just enough</em> value to allow it to stay in the product, but <em class="oy">not enough</em> value for it to be worth the team’s time to fix up. And so it keeps breaking for all the users.</p><p id="20cd" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">But — how many people actually <em class="oy">use</em> it?</p><p id="3eb1" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">And how about the minimally-scoped <a class="af ob" href="https://www.productplan.com/glossary/minimum-viable-feature/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">MVFeature</a> which cut <em class="oy">all-the-corners</em>, leaving you with a giant tech-indebted blobsicle? The team leadership <em class="oy">promised</em> you’d eventually get to add those corners back in, but that’s never been prioritized. Liars!</p><p id="f1cc" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">But — is it <em class="oy">broken</em>, or do you just wish it was done better?</p><p id="1851" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Or, there’s that section of the codebase which the devs can’t bear to look at anymore because it’s such a mess of copypasta’ed <a class="af ob" href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/9476/spaghetti-code" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">spaghetti code</a>. It clearly needs to be rewritten… or perhaps burned to the ground in a fiery rage that would make Satan envious — better to have nothing than this heap-o-trash.</p><p id="6532" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">But — how often does anyone really have to <em class="oy">touch</em> that part of the code?</p><p id="e765" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk"><strong class="oe gv">The reality is that most technical debt simply isn’t as big a crisis as one might be led to believe. The platform is <em class="oy">not</em> on fire. The code is <em class="oy">not</em> about to self implode. The startup is <em class="oy">not</em> about to go under because of that-one-service-that’s-not-so-great.</strong></p><h2 id="90c4" class="qq pq gu bf pr qr qs dy pu qt qu ea px ol qv qw qx op qy qz ra ot rb rc rd re bk">Opportunity cost is real</h2><p id="7ff1" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">Every hour your team spends refactoring that “ugly” code is an hour they’re not spending on features that could actually <a class="af ob" href="https://www.svpg.com/product-strategy-focus/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">move the needle</a> for your business. <em class="oy">Which</em> needle? I dunno, but there’s definitely <em class="oy">a</em> needle that <em class="oy">could</em> be moved, which <em class="oy">isn’t</em> being moved, because it’s “so important” to give some code a makeover.</p><p id="7e45" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Consider this:</p><ul class=""><li id="ae25" class="oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox rf rg rh bk">While you’re <strong class="oe gv">perfecting code</strong>, your primary competitor is shipping <strong class="oe gv">perfectly-acceptable </strong><a class="af ob" href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-minimally-viable-feature-approach/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong class="oe gv">features</strong></a></li><li id="a883" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk">While you’re crafting <strong class="oe gv">beautiful architecture</strong>, your users are <strong class="oe gv">architecting an escape plan</strong></li><li id="8863" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk">While you’re building <strong class="oe gv">infinitely-scalable</strong> microservices, your <strong class="oe gv">non-infinite customers</strong> are <a class="af ob" href="https://www.productplan.com/glossary/churn/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">churning</a></li><li id="32be" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk">While you’re writing an exquisitely elegant <strong class="oe gv">job-processing</strong> system, the amount of <strong class="oe gv">revenue-processing</strong> the company is doing is falling down a cliff</li></ul><p id="e185" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Your pristine codebase won’t matter if your company runs out of runway before finding <a class="af ob" href="https://www.svpg.com/product-market-fit/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">product market fit</a>.</p><h2 id="5c48" class="qq pq gu bf pr qr qs dy pu qt qu ea px ol qv qw qx op qy qz ra ot rb rc rd re bk">Premature optimization is (still) the root of all evil</h2><p id="cf30" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">You think you know exactly how that system should be architected. You can see the perfect solution in your mind’s eye. You can feel how magical the world will be when it’s finally built.</p><p id="199e" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Let me ask you something: how many of your development predictions from two years ago turned out to be right?</p><p id="9993" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">First off, there are <strong class="oe gv"><em class="oy">external</em> unknowns:</strong> That “future-proof” architecture you want to build — how will that hold up to a future you never could have predicted? Did you see the omnipresence of <a class="af ob" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryenglish/2023/09/27/caught-off-guard-by-the-ai-revolution-heres-how-your-company-can-catch-up/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">AI</a> coming? The utility of <a class="af ob" href="https://www.ibm.com/topics/benefits-of-blockchain" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">blockchain</a>? The interconnectedness of <a class="af ob" href="https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/iot/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">IoT</a>? The rise of <a class="af ob" href="https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">social media</a>?</p><p id="b562" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">And secondly, there are <strong class="oe gv"><em class="oy">internal</em> unknowns:</strong> You don’t <em class="oy">actually</em> know which parts of your system will matter long-term, because you don’t know which features users will use, if/when/how your company will pivot, what secondary products the org will spin up, etc. So how can you possibly know which debt is truly worth your time investment (where “worth” is measured in, you know, actual dollars for the company)?</p><p id="678b" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Stop trying to <a class="af ob" href="https://xkcd.com/1691/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">optimize</a> for an impossible-to-know future. Build for today, with just enough flexibility for tomorrow.</p><h1 id="336e" class="pp pq gu bf pr ps pt hu pu pv pw hx px py pz qa qb qc qd qe qf qg qh qi qj qk bk">When (and how) to care</h1><p id="65cd" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">Okay, I can already hear the clacking of mechanical keyboards preparing to churn out angry responses. I beseech you — please give me a little more of your reading time before you hit enter.</p><p id="bc26" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk"><em class="oy">Yes</em>, there are absolutely times when technical debt becomes a real problem that needs addressing. I acknowledge this reality… just as <em class="oy">you</em> should acknowledge the reality that <em class="oy">not all</em> tech debt is created equal.</p><p id="5ea5" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">(If you’ve read my past articles, you know what’s coming.)</p><p id="76a4" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">It all…</p><p id="7de2" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">comes down…</p><p id="7ebc" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">to value.</p><h2 id="086d" class="qq pq gu bf pr qr qs dy pu qt qu ea px ol qv qw qx op qy qz ra ot rb rc rd re bk">Signs you need to pay attention to tech debt</h2><p id="f76f" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">Look for concrete evidence that certain tech debt is worth dealing with, not just gut feelings or aesthetic preferences. (As much as we all love to hate on it, the level of your personal distaste for PHP is not a valid metric.)</p><p id="35f6" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">For instance:</p><ul class=""><li id="ea0a" class="oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><a class="af ob" href="https://swimm.io/learn/developer-experience/developer-velocity-how-to-measure-and-4-steps-to-improve-it" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong class="oe gv">Development velocity</strong></a> has measurably crashed</li><li id="1caf" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><a class="af ob" href="https://www.launchnotes.com/glossary/incident-management-practice-in-product-management-and-operations" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong class="oe gv">Customer-facing incidents</strong></a> are increasing quarter by quarter</li><li id="aafb" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><a class="af ob" href="https://www.codepath.org/news/engineering-onboarding-guide" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong class="oe gv">Time-to-contribution for new engineers</strong></a> is over a month and climbing</li><li id="7be5" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><a class="af ob" href="https://www.software.com/engineering-metrics/build-time" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong class="oe gv">Build time</strong></a> has gone from single-digit minutes to <a class="af ob" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKie-vgUGdI" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">dozens</a> (or far worse)</li><li id="f92f" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><strong class="oe gv">Coffee breaks</strong> have gone from “quick espresso” to “full French press ceremony” (I know this one <em class="oy">sounds</em> silly — but seriously, when your developers would rather be baristas, something about the codebase may be untenable)</li></ul><p id="fb36" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">If you can’t point to specific, measurable pain, you probably don’t have a real tech debt crisis. You just have opinions. And you know what they say about opinions…</p><h2 id="4868" class="qq pq gu bf pr qr qs dy pu qt qu ea px ol qv qw qx op qy qz ra ot rb rc rd re bk">The right way to address tech debt IOUs</h2><p id="abf8" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">When the time comes to address tech debt, don’t treat it like a <a class="af ob" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmInkxbvlCs" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">holy crusade</a>. Instead, treat it like any other product decision. (In other words, get ready to justify your <a class="af ob" href="https://www.launchnotes.com/glossary/return-on-investment-roi-in-product-management-and-operations" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">ROI</a>.)</p><ul class=""><li id="5d01" class="oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><strong class="oe gv">Focus exclusively on tech debt that’s actively causing pain <em class="oy">right now</em></strong>, not the pain you <em class="oy">imagine</em> future-you will feel (note: if the goal is to deal with pain that you’re <em class="oy">about</em> to have if you don’t do something about it, that’s okay, too)</li><li id="24f2" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><strong class="oe gv">Make the </strong><a class="af ob" href="https://builtin.com/articles/quantify-business-impact" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong class="oe gv">business impact</strong></a><strong class="oe gv"> clear</strong> — what specifically do you expect to be better if you move forward, and why is that worth it?</li><li id="3a96" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><strong class="oe gv">Build consensus</strong> across product and engineering about the real cost-to-benefit ratio — make sure either the right stakeholders are on board, or they at least <a class="af ob" href="https://productcoalition.com/agree-to-agree-your-missing-leadership-skill-c3e0df538b5e" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">agree to (dis)agree</a></li><li id="67c5" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><strong class="oe gv">Set clear </strong><a class="af ob" href="https://productcoalition.com/without-a-story-your-metrics-are-just-numbers-on-a-page-3ec53b5e6b80" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong class="oe gv">success metrics</strong></a> <em class="oy">before</em> you start, and then, y’know, <em class="oy">actually measure them</em> when you’re done</li></ul><p id="ac0f" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Technical debt payments should be investments, not penance. Save the self-flagellation for your personal time.</p><h2 id="d643" class="qq pq gu bf pr qr qs dy pu qt qu ea px ol qv qw qx op qy qz ra ot rb rc rd re bk">Sustainable tech debt management</h2><p id="5e07" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">Above, we discussed how to move on individual pieces of tech debt. You also need to build process and culture to maintain the overall philosophy of paying down debt over time.</p><ul class=""><li id="0ec0" class="oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><a class="af ob" href="https://gainmomentum.ai/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong class="oe gv">Dedicate a consistent percentage of time</strong></a> for each team to address tech debt each <a class="af ob" href="https://gainmomentum.ai/learn/sprint" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">sprint</a> (note: this is approximate, <a class="af ob" href="https://gainmomentum.ai/learn/task-estimation" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">estimates</a> are hard, you should care about long-term averages)</li><li id="cf82" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><strong class="oe gv">Normalize talking about technical trade-offs openly</strong> — sure, a feature might be delivered faster if you address some tech debt, but not necessarily if you include the actual paying down of the debt in the calculation (i.e., you need to be honest about the math here)</li><li id="f37f" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk"><strong class="oe gv">Make technical debt visible without making it scary</strong> — <a class="af ob" href="https://uxdesign.cc/stop-moving-fast-and-breaking-everything-f811cb5cf2c9" rel="noopener" target="_blank">having s<em class="oy">ome</em> tech debt is actually <em class="oy">good</em></a>, because it proves that you’re moving faster than you otherwise would — there are obviously just limits where “good” turns into “disaster zone”</li></ul><p id="5eff" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">The goal isn’t to completely eliminate tech debt — it’s to make it a boring part of the process.</p><h1 id="7aa4" class="pp pq gu bf pr ps pt hu pu pv pw hx px py pz qa qb qc qd qe qf qg qh qi qj qk bk">Rethink your relationship with tech debt</h1><p id="da22" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs ql og oh hv qm oj ok ol qn on oo op qo or os ot qp ov ow ox gn bk">Tech debt isn’t some huge moral failure of the team.</p><p id="a1df" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">It’s a tool.</p><p id="5b00" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Used properly, tech debt can help you move faster when speed matters most (like at your startup with a 12 month runway).</p><p id="c192" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">So stop trying to eliminate tech debt entirely. Instead, focus on:</p><ul class=""><li id="7279" class="oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox rf rg rh bk">Acknowledging which tech debt is actually slowing you down</li><li id="21f2" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk">Understanding the very real trade-offs between paying down debt vs. not</li><li id="8725" class="oc od gu oe b hs ri og oh hv rj oj ok ol rk on oo op rl or os ot rm ov ow ox rf rg rh bk">Proving to the team and/or business when acting outweighs idling</li></ul><p id="72a0" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Then, and only then, should you tackle the debt.</p><p id="fbf8" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">Every successful company has tech debt. It’s how you optimize the situation that matters. Do you minimize the debt, or do you maximize velocity toward the creation of value?</p><p id="7c39" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk">You know the answer.</p></div></div></div><div class="ab cb rn ro rp rq" role="separator"><span class="rr by bm rs rt ru"></span><span class="rr by bm rs rt ru"></span><span class="rr by bm rs rt"></span></div><div class="gn go gp gq gr"><div class="ab cb"><div class="ci bh fz ga gb gc"><p id="9aed" class="pw-post-body-paragraph oc od gu oe b hs of og oh hv oi oj ok ol om on oo op oq or os ot ou ov ow ox gn bk"><em class="oy">Speaking of tech debt… Are you tired of fighting Jira’s interface? I get it. That’s why we’re building Momentum — it’s Jira on the backend, but with a UX that actually helps you do agile. No migration necessary. Curious? </em><a class="af ob" href="https://gainmomentum.ai/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><em class="oy">Join the waitlist.</em></a></p></div></div></div></div></section></div></div></article></div><div class="ab cb"><div class="ci bh fz ga gb gc"><div class="rv rw ab jm"><div class="rx ab"><a class="ry ay am ao" href="https://medium.com/tag/software-engineering?source=post_page-----b837c113fbde--------------------------------" rel="noopener follow"><div class="rz fj cx sa ge sb sc bf b bg z bk sd">Software Engineering</div></a></div><div class="rx ab"><a class="ry ay am ao" href="https://medium.com/tag/product-management?source=post_page-----b837c113fbde--------------------------------" rel="noopener follow"><div class="rz fj cx sa ge sb sc bf b bg z bk sd">Product Management</div></a></div><div class="rx ab"><a class="ry ay am ao" href="https://medium.com/tag/startup?source=post_page-----b837c113fbde--------------------------------" rel="noopener follow"><div 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Instead, focus on:","hasDropCap":null,"dropCapImage":null,"markups":[],"codeBlockMetadata":null,"iframe":null,"mixtapeMetadata":null},"Paragraph:c9e4b59d5f22_73":{"__typename":"Paragraph","id":"c9e4b59d5f22_73","name":"7279","type":"ULI","href":null,"layout":null,"metadata":null,"text":"Acknowledging which tech debt is actually slowing you down","hasDropCap":null,"dropCapImage":null,"markups":[],"codeBlockMetadata":null,"iframe":null,"mixtapeMetadata":null},"Paragraph:c9e4b59d5f22_74":{"__typename":"Paragraph","id":"c9e4b59d5f22_74","name":"21f2","type":"ULI","href":null,"layout":null,"metadata":null,"text":"Understanding the very real trade-offs between paying down debt vs. not","hasDropCap":null,"dropCapImage":null,"markups":[],"codeBlockMetadata":null,"iframe":null,"mixtapeMetadata":null},"Paragraph:c9e4b59d5f22_75":{"__typename":"Paragraph","id":"c9e4b59d5f22_75","name":"8725","type":"ULI","href":null,"layout":null,"metadata":null,"text":"Proving to the team and\u002For business when acting outweighs idling","hasDropCap":null,"dropCapImage":null,"markups":[],"codeBlockMetadata":null,"iframe":null,"mixtapeMetadata":null},"Paragraph:c9e4b59d5f22_76":{"__typename":"Paragraph","id":"c9e4b59d5f22_76","name":"72a0","type":"P","href":null,"layout":null,"metadata":null,"text":"Then, and only then, should you tackle the debt.","hasDropCap":null,"dropCapImage":null,"markups":[],"codeBlockMetadata":null,"iframe":null,"mixtapeMetadata":null},"Paragraph:c9e4b59d5f22_77":{"__typename":"Paragraph","id":"c9e4b59d5f22_77","name":"fbf8","type":"P","href":null,"layout":null,"metadata":null,"text":"Every successful company has tech debt. 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