Revisiting a seemingly self-evident term

To be clear: I do not think we should actually forget technical debt. Also, this is not the nth post discussing if “debt” is an appropriate metaphor. I do not have a strong opinion regarding the metaphor. My point is rather that I realized in a recent discussion that in the end, it is not so much about technical debt but rather about something else, and I wanted to share the thought.

  • KissakiEnglish
    3·
    4 hours ago

    As a lead dev I have plenty of cases where I weigh effort vs impact and risk and conclude to “this is good enough for now”. Such cases are not poor management - which I assume you mean something like “we have to ship more faster, so do the shortest”. Sometimes cutting corners is the correct and good decision, sometimes the only feasible one, as long as you’re aware and weigh risks and consequences.

    We, and specifically I, do plenty of improvements where possible and reasonable. Whatever I visit, depending on how much effort it is. But sometimes effort is too much to be resolvable or investable.

    For context, I’m working on a project that has been running for 20 years.

    • squaresinger@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 hours ago

      In this context, YAGNI is a very good principle, because incidentally, working too much ahead to avoid technical debt can actually cause technical debt.