Appendix A. Technical debt
This appendix covers
- Understanding technical debt
- Focusing on sustainable development and avoiding shortcuts
- Sources for redesigning and restructuring
Outside of the software world, you take out loans to finance different sorts of investments or expenses. You then have to pay back the principal (the money you borrowed) and interest (a time-based fee for borrowing the money). You take out loans both privately and in business-related situations.
The basic idea behind taking out a loan is to delay the payment for a purchase, from a time when you don’t have the purchasing power to a time when you do. Sometimes this means you pay back a little at a time over a longer period, perhaps over decades for expensive things such as a house. Sometimes it means you pay back everything in one lump sum quickly, within a week or sooner. Now, what has this got to do with software development?
Imagine the following scenario: The product owner of the site you’re developing comes in shouting, “We need to add social media integration to our customer support flow! And we need it by next week! We have a potential Top 100 customer we must impress!” This is the break you’ve been waiting for. Everybody on the team drops what they’re doing and starts hacking away at adding the new feature.