Exactly this. I like to say “the interest on the technical debt always comes due.”
The problem isn’t so much that it exists but that organizations fail to manage it. Just like fiscal debt, sometimes technical debt is necessary or advantageous. The key is investing enough effort to keep the balance and interest rate low.
When that doesn’t happen, features take longer and longer to implement as even small changes require increasingly large amounts of refactoring.
Additionally, defect rates tend to rise. In my experience, organizations that don’t like to manage technical debt also don’t like to invest time in proper unit testing.
Exactly this. I like to say “the interest on the technical debt always comes due.” The problem isn’t so much that it exists but that organizations fail to manage it. Just like fiscal debt, sometimes technical debt is necessary or advantageous. The key is investing enough effort to keep the balance and interest rate low.
When that doesn’t happen, features take longer and longer to implement as even small changes require increasingly large amounts of refactoring.
Additionally, defect rates tend to rise. In my experience, organizations that don’t like to manage technical debt also don’t like to invest time in proper unit testing.