Technical debt is the cost of future rework from choosing quick solutions over better approaches.
Types of Debt#
Intentional Debt#
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Unintentional Debt#
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Identifying Debt#
Code Smells#
- Long methods (>30 lines)
- Deep nesting
- Duplicate code
- Magic numbers
- God classes
Prioritization#
High Impact + Low Effort = Fix Now
High Impact + High Effort = Schedule
Low Impact + Low Effort = Fix Soon
Low Impact + High Effort = Consider Later
Paying Down Debt#
Boy Scout Rule#
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Sprint Allocation#
- 70% Features
- 20% Technical debt
- 10% Bug fixes
Preventing New Debt#
- Definition of Done includes quality checks
- Code review standards
- Automated linting and testing
Track debt systematically, prioritize by impact, and allocate time consistently to address it.