In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about technical debt — what it is, why does it occur, and some techniques for reducing and avoiding it.

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Show Notes

03:17 - What is technical debt

Outdated or hard to update code
If you groan when you have to work on it, it might be a sign of technical debt
Brittle code, easily breakable
Quirks and features

06:55 - Why does it occur

Over time, any garden left un-pruned will become overgrown
Many people, many code styles
Using hot new frameworks / techniques
- This is why seasoned developers don’t jump on new things
You allow users to do literally anything

13:18 - Techniques for avoiding it

Deny your FOMO of new things
Abstract
Write good tests
Don’t put off refactors
Update dependencies frequently
Good standards
- Etsy has thousands of devs

20:08 - Examples in the real world

Airline websites open in new windows all the time
Cellphone carrier flashes the screen 100x

22:15 - Unfixable technical debt

Agency work sometimes

Links

Next
React Router
TailwindCSS
Redux
Etsy
Dave Ramsey

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Speech: Marie Goldman MP, Liberal Democrat shadow leader of the House of Commons