Stages of Tech Debt

Tech dept is a common term in software engineering, but most developers hardly know about the stages of this tech dept.

Minor fixes

At this point, there will be only minor fixes or changes that won’t hinder or delay the deployment process.

The business can continue to grow at its usual pace.

New problems

Ongoing fixes are affecting code quality due to pressure from upper management to expedite delivery, which is leading to some issues being swept under the rug.

The progress is somewhat affected, but it remains manageable and stress-free.

Thing getting complex

Past major technical decisions and hurried fixes have increased code complexity, creating a roadblock for future technical implementations.

This complexity makes it more time-consuming for engineers and the product team to address issues within the set timeline.

As a result, there has been a noticeable decline in productivity.

Falling to the ground

Increased rollbacks during deployment.

At this point, implementing new features is nearly impossible or extremely time-consuming.

High-level management is experiencing burnout due to ongoing failures from the product and engineering teams.

Frequent performance issues are occurring.

What if you are falling to the ground

Assemble Rescue Team

Halt all major changes from the product and engineering teams and have them concentrate on urgent issues. Form a rescue team to lead and design appropriate architecture, then begin the migration with close oversight.

Leadership must make tough decisions regarding unstable systems until a better replacement is developed. Although building the new system will take time, it will ultimately reduce your tech debt from level 4 to level 1 in the long run