The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

How To Defeat The 3 Most Common Arguments Against Technical Debt

7 snips
May 8, 2025
The discussion dives into the challenges of managing technical debt, especially in fast-paced startup environments. Personal anecdotes reveal how it can accumulate over years without attention. Strategies for communicating the necessity of addressing these issues with stakeholders are shared, emphasizing data-driven persuasion. Furthermore, the importance of collaboration and measuring the impact of resolving technical debt is highlighted, showcasing how it leads to improved efficiency and financial benefits.
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ANECDOTE

Startup's Technical Debt Struggle

  • Lee Henson shared a personal experience of accumulating technical debt in a startup for five years without capacity to address it.
  • A full-time engineer refactored 20% of legacy code in a year, implying it would take five more years to clean the system, excluding new debt.
INSIGHT

Business Side Resists Debt Fixing

  • Resistance to addressing technical debt mostly comes from business side prioritizing quick product delivery.
  • They don’t reject the problem maliciously but can’t see the payoff of refactoring within tight deadlines.
ADVICE

Use Analogies to Explain Debt

  • When faced with blame that technical debt is caused by bad engineers, explain debt is a normal trade-off for speed.
  • Use relatable analogies like moving a couch on a small car roof to show pragmatic decisions.
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