Prevention is a software-development strategy that avoids problems before they occur. It favors scalable, maintainable designs and best practices to reduce technical debt and keep the codebase healthy over time. section 6.3.3
Practical preventative tactics include:
- Use code reviews to catch problems early and limit technical-debt accumulation. section 6.3.3
- Encourage clear, well-documented code and adherence to development best practices. section 6.3.3
- Automate code analysis with linters and automated testing frameworks. section 6.3.3
- Document and continually improve the development process, including a maintenance schedule. section 6.6
Maintenance before failure
An organization favored reactionary fixes because maintenance seemed too time-consuming, but inadequate maintenance caused periodic system outages. A preventative approach treats regular maintenance as an investment in reliability. section 6.3.3
