What is technical debt in software?
The concept of technical debt in software is describes the cost of shortcuts taken during the development process. Just like a financial debt, technical debt accumulates over time, and the longer it goes unpaid, the more expensive it becomes.
Technical debt arises when a software development team chooses to take shortcuts during the development process, rather than addressing underlying issues in the code. These shortcuts might include
1. sticking with outdated or unsupported third-party library or framework and delaying necessary updates or upgrades,
2. failing to fully test the software before release, or
3. leaving the code untidy (with code smells) after a quick bug fix.
While these shortcuts may save time and resources in the short term, they can have serious consequences in the long term. The long-term costs of the above examples include
1. bigger efforts in updating the third third-party dependency later and security risks using the outdated one,
2. remaining errors in the code that surface when the customer uses it and then create higher costs and damage, or
3. unreadable code that makes the next changes more time consuming.
In general, technical debt can lead to decreased software quality, reduced functionality, and increased risk of bugs or security vulnerabilities. In some cases, it may even render the software obsolete.
How to quantify technical debts?
One of the biggest challenges in managing technical debt is that it can be difficult to quantify. Unlike financial debt, technical debt does not come with a set interest rate or payment schedule. Instead, it must be assessed on a case-by-case basis, based on factors such as the age and complexity of the software, the quality of the code, and the potential risks associated with any outstanding issues.
Software analysis tool help assessing the debts quantitatively. Back to our examples
1. NPM analyzes the dependencies in your software and lists the outdated dependencies and their risks.
2. Parsoft tools allow to automatically assess the so-called code coverage of tests and, hence, give an estimate of the degree to which the code is tested.
3. In SonarQube, each untidy code pattern (code smell) is associated with the corresponding development effort to fix. Each match of such a pattern in a codebase adds to the technical debt account.
There exist plenty of similar tools, each restricted to specific types of technical debts and programming languages.
How to balance technical debts?
Despite all challenges, the assessment of the debts should result in an overall effort for fixing the issue in a software in it in units of software development time to pay back the debt. As we argued in the article on The Technical Value of IT Companies, development time can be translated to costs. This way, we can balance technical value and technical debts of software, just as any other type of costs on a balance sheet.
However, not all technical debts can be defined as a code pattern and analyzed automatically. In the above examples, missing test code and un
How to manage technical debts?
It is essential for software development organization to take a proactive approach to managing technical debt.
This may involve establishing clear policies and procedures for addressing technical debt. This includes:
1. Assess the debts quantitatively and balancing against the technical value.
2. Define key performance indicators and set acceptance levels in terms of absolute thresholds or relative to the technical value.
3. Invest in regular code reviews and testing and stay up to date with the latest technologies and best practices. Pay back technical debts as part of your regular development and in special maintenance sprint if necessary.
Ultimately, managing technical debt requires a balance between short-term goals (which might require to make debts) and long-term sustainability (which requires to keep the debts low). Short-term goals usually take care of themselves. But by investing in software development practices that prioritize quality and maintainability, teams can help ensure that their software remains relevant and effective over the long term.
Image by HurwiczRocks - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,