copyright © 2012 by mark j. sebern technical debt what is debt (in a financial sense)?
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Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Technical Debt
What is debt (in a financial sense)?
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Technical Debt
What is debt (in a financial sense)?
•Principal, interest, payments, compounding
What’s the basic idea of “technical debt”?
•Is “debt” (always? ever?) a bad thing?
•Is “debt” (always? ever?) a good thing?
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Kinds of Technical Debt
•Unfit (bad) design
•Defects
• Insufficient test coverage
• Excessive manual testing
• Poor integration and release management
• Lack of platform experience
•Other kinds?
Briefly, define each kind
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Types of Technical Debt
How do the following types differ?
•Naive technical debt
•Unavoidable technical debt
•Strategic technical debt
Give an example of each type
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Consequences of Technical Debt
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Consequences of Technical Debt
Unpredictable tipping point
Increased delivery
time
Significant # of
defects
Rising development & support costs
Product atrophyDecreased
predictability
Under-performanc
e
Universal frustration(morale)
Decreased customer
satisfaction
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Causes ofTechnical Debt
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Causes ofTechnical Debt
Deadline pressure
False “acceleratio
n”
Decreased verificatio
n
Cumulative debt effects (decreasing
velocity)
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Managing Technical Debt
Managing debt accrual
Making debt visible
Servicing the debt
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Managing Technical Debt
Managing debt accrual
Making debt visible
Servicing the debt
Good technical practices
Strong “done” definition
Understanding of debt economics (delay vs repayment costs)
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Managing debt accrual
Making debt visible
Servicing the debt
Good technical practices
Strong “done” definition
Understanding of debt economics (delay vs repayment costs)
Managing Technical Debt
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Managing Technical Debt
Managing debt accrual
Making debt visible
Servicing the debt
Good technical practices
Visibility at the business level
(balance sheet)
Strong “done” definition
Visibility at the technical level (defects, PBIs, cards)
Understanding of debt economics (delay vs repayment costs)
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Making Technical Debt Visible
Technical Debt Backlog?
Feature Backlog
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Managing Technical Debt
Managing debt accrual
Making debt visible
Servicing the debt
Good technical practices
Visibility at the business level
(balance sheet)
Deciding whether to
repay
Strong “done” definition
Visibility at the technical level (defects, PBIs, cards)
Repay when found,
incrementally, high-interest
first
Understanding of debt economics (delay vs repayment costs)
Technical DebtItems in Product
Backlog?
Repay while producing
value(avoid balloon
payments)
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
Servicing Technical Debt
Sprint PBI’s/Activites Technical Debt Backlog
Copyright © 2012 by Mark J. Sebern
What Else?