What Is Technical Debt: Common Causes & How to Reduce It

Technical debt is the accumulation of sub-optimal or expedient solutions in software development that can slow future progress and increase costs. It represents the extra development work that arises when a team chooses a quick and easy solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer.

Like financial debt, tech debt has a cost over time:

• Software patches
• Increased maintenance requirements
• Restructuring
• Bug fixes
• Lengthy development processes

Every business accumulates tech debt differently. Remember, not all technical debt is bad. Just like you sometimes need to borrow money to finance a business expansion, it’s okay to take on a manageable amount of tech debt to grow or accelerate your business.

To better manage trade-offs, engineering organizations must understand how technical debt accumulates.

Here are a few common reasons it starts to grow:

• Deadline pressure. Tight project schedules or urgent demands may force developers to take shortcuts to meet delivery deadlines, leading to less-than-ideal solutions.
• Lack of experience. Inexperienced software developers might inadvertently write code that isn’t efficient or maintainable.
• Changing scope. If requirements shift during development, previously well-designed code might become obsolete or incompatible.
• Temporary solutions. Sometimes, developers implement quick fixes or short-term solutions to address immediate issues, intending to revisit them later (which often never happens).
• Ignoring code quality. Failure to adhere to coding standards and best practices can lead to bad code debt that is difficult to read, understand, and maintain.
• Outdated technologies. Using obsolete or deprecated technologies can create technical debt as they become harder to maintain and integrate with newer solutions.
• Inadequate testing. Incomplete or insufficient testing may cause undetected bugs or vulnerabilities, leading to future complications.

While some technical debt is unavoidable (and even necessary) in certain situations, managing it effectively is crucial to prevent it from hurting the long-term software development process.

Here are some strategies your development teams can use to manage and reduce tech debt:

Here are some real-life examples of companies that faced challenges (and obliteration) due to ineffectively managing their technical debt:

• Myspace: Myspace faced significant technical debt issues as it struggled to keep up with the rapidly evolving social media landscape. The platform’s architecture didn’t scale efficiently, leading to slow performance and poor user experiences. Users started migrating to other platforms like Facebook, contributing to Myspace’s decline.
• Nokia: Blackberry, known for its early success in the smartphone market, encountered tech debt issues when it failed to adapt its operating system and hardware to compete with newer smartphone platforms. The company’s outdated software architecture and limited app ecosystem made it less attractive, leading to a decline in market share.
• Boeing 737 Max: The Boeing 737 MAX aircraft met severe technical debt issues related to its MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) software. The system was designed to address stability concerns with the new aircraft, but insufficient testing and documentation led to two fatal crashes. This led to the global grounding of the plane and substantial reputational damage to Boeing—not to mention the loss of 346 lives.
• Adobe Flash: Adobe Flash confronted challenges as it became increasingly susceptible to security vulnerabilities and performance issues. With the rise of HTML5 and modern web standards, Flash lost its relevance, leading Adobe to announce its end-of-life and discontinuation by the end of 2020.

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