Glossary · software
Technical Debt
Definition
Technical debt is the hidden cost that accumulates when code quality is sacrificed for speed. Quick code, temporary fixes, and deferred refactoring come back with interest: adding features slows down, bugs increase, developer turnover rises.
Detailed explanation
Ward Cunningham coined technical debt in 1992: 'the difference between what is easy and what is right today.' Like financial debt, it charges 'interest' — each development cycle costs extra time working around bad code.
Types: Deliberate debt (conscious shortcut — pay later), inadvertent debt (ignorance), decay debt (once-correct code made obsolete by time). Deliberate debt is acceptable in the MVP phase; as the product matures, it must be paid.
How to manage: Allocate 20% of each sprint to debt repayment, enforce code review standards, maintain 80%+ automated test coverage, use static analysis tools like SonarQube.
Use cases
→Fast MVP build to reach market
→Legacy system modernization
→Codebase prep before team expansion
→Software maintenance cost analysis
→Code quality audit before investment
Pros
- +Provides speed when used deliberately (MVP/pilot)
- +Short-term deadline targets are hit
Cons
- −Interest compounds — each feature takes longer
- −Bug rate increases
- −Developer motivation drops
- −Refactoring cost grows exponentially
Related terms
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