Ooooof, this video got me heated. PRODUCT PEOPLE PLEASE READ THIS. Never EVER use tech debt as a "tool" for faster delivery. No matter how good a developer is, you will always have a certain amount of inherent tech debt. If you want a good analogy, call it "interest." You get a mortgage, you're expected to pay a certain amount on a certain day every month, or else you risk your interest going up and your credit score going down. You can't just say that you want a sports car NOW and pay half the amount on your mortgage every month as a "tool" to afford it faster. THIS is why software teams have a 0 tolerance policy for INTENTIONAL tech debt. We understand that if you have any code at all, you have tech debt, and as new features are developed, new tech debt is introduced. If you nip it in the bud, you will have FASTER delivery in the future. If you EVER use it as a tool, you have IMMEDIATELY sacrificed hours of future delivery time. It's a WAY more delicate situation and rampant issue than this video gives it credit for. Your development team will quickly become overwhelmed by the so-called "high interest" and "low credit scores" because they have to deal with the consequences first hand, yet they still get pressure from the product team, who is completely sheltered from the problems it causes. In my career, I've seen so many good devs get bullied by bad product managers because of this MASSIVE misconception. This line here: "Business executives tend to have a more open mind about technical debt, they understand the trade-offs, compared to your technical staff ..." Is it not obvious why this is offensive? Such a thinly veiled way of saying "developers don't understand business so their opinion is irrelevant." Treat your technical team with the same level of respect you would treat your financial advisor, who tells you it's generally a bad idea to make half-payments on a loan to make room in the budget for another loan. Alright, rant over.
I agree for 100% There is never time to do things 'the right way', but there is always time to fix it *later* . Except, *later* there are other tasks at hand and the issues are never resolved.
"Business executives tend to have a more open mind about technical debt, they understand the trade-offs, compared to your technical staff ..." Yeah, because they don't have to actually pay it.
I don't even have credit card debt, much less technical debt. I rather do things the right way and pay the tech challenge no matter the time cost. In the end, no one will care that I took 3 days or 3 months if the piece of software is working for 10 years without fail and it's maintainable. I do have technical debt at work and in personal projects that at the time I considered "disposable code" and I regret not doing the work the right way every single time, specially when that "disposable code" becomes really useful to people. Workarounds are tempting, that's a battle that I wage daily.
"It's not a problem until it is ... " Like a nuclear war ... or a depression. It's all good until it's not. This is where the concept of minimizing risk *should* make sense, but the dynamics of our current economic framework inherently negates any such logic. "Ya jus' gonna hafta kinda gamble!"
Ooooof, this video got me heated. PRODUCT PEOPLE PLEASE READ THIS.
Never EVER use tech debt as a "tool" for faster delivery. No matter how good a developer is, you will always have a certain amount of inherent tech debt. If you want a good analogy, call it "interest." You get a mortgage, you're expected to pay a certain amount on a certain day every month, or else you risk your interest going up and your credit score going down. You can't just say that you want a sports car NOW and pay half the amount on your mortgage every month as a "tool" to afford it faster. THIS is why software teams have a 0 tolerance policy for INTENTIONAL tech debt. We understand that if you have any code at all, you have tech debt, and as new features are developed, new tech debt is introduced. If you nip it in the bud, you will have FASTER delivery in the future. If you EVER use it as a tool, you have IMMEDIATELY sacrificed hours of future delivery time. It's a WAY more delicate situation and rampant issue than this video gives it credit for. Your development team will quickly become overwhelmed by the so-called "high interest" and "low credit scores" because they have to deal with the consequences first hand, yet they still get pressure from the product team, who is completely sheltered from the problems it causes. In my career, I've seen so many good devs get bullied by bad product managers because of this MASSIVE misconception.
This line here: "Business executives tend to have a more open mind about technical debt, they understand the trade-offs, compared to your technical staff ..."
Is it not obvious why this is offensive? Such a thinly veiled way of saying "developers don't understand business so their opinion is irrelevant." Treat your technical team with the same level of respect you would treat your financial advisor, who tells you it's generally a bad idea to make half-payments on a loan to make room in the budget for another loan.
Alright, rant over.
I agree for 100%
There is never time to do things 'the right way', but there is always time to fix it *later* .
Except, *later* there are other tasks at hand and the issues are never resolved.
"Business executives tend to have a more open mind about technical debt, they understand the trade-offs, compared to your technical staff ..."
Yeah, because they don't have to actually pay it.
I don't even have credit card debt, much less technical debt.
I rather do things the right way and pay the tech challenge no matter the time cost.
In the end, no one will care that I took 3 days or 3 months if the piece of software is working for 10 years without fail and it's maintainable.
I do have technical debt at work and in personal projects that at the time I considered "disposable code" and I regret not doing the work the right way every single time, specially when that "disposable code" becomes really useful to people.
Workarounds are tempting, that's a battle that I wage daily.
Best Video to Learn the Basic Details
Great explanation, loved your energy!
The video is very well done, is the idea of allowing intentional technical debt that I disagree on.
Thanks for this video. Please would you tell me how the development team can communicate technical debt.
Very well explained, Thank You.
Thanks, that was very simple n clear.
Perfectly understood
「あなたのコンテンツはとても感動的です」、
"It's not a problem until it is ... "
Like a nuclear war ... or a depression. It's all good until it's not. This is where the concept of minimizing risk *should* make sense, but the dynamics of our current economic framework inherently negates any such logic. "Ya jus' gonna hafta kinda gamble!"
Too many distractions. Just say it and forget that the other stuff
why is she pronouncing technical DEATH ? 🤣