Technical debt can be a silent killer in software development. It starts small—a shortcut here, a workaround there—but over time, these quick fixes can pile up, making the codebase difficult to maintain and slowing down the development process.

Coined by software engineer Ward Cunningham, the term “technical debt” compares quick fixes in software development to financial debt. Just as financial debt accumulates interest over time if not paid off, so does technical debt—in the form of additional work and cost.

Controlling this invisible burden is just as critical as shipping the next big feature. Here are some key reasons why:

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• Maintainability: High technical debt makes a codebase difficult to understand, change, and maintain. This can slow down new feature development and increase the likelihood of bugs.

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• Product Quality: High technical debt can impact the quality of the product, contributing to poor user experience and loss of customers.

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• Team Morale: Constantly working on a codebase with high technical debt can be frustrating and demoralizing for development teams, triggering lower productivity and higher turnover.

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• Cost Efficiency: Although taking on technical debt may appear cost-effective in the short term, it can lead to higher costs in the long term due to the increased effort required to implement changes and fix issues.

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• Scalability: A system with high technical debt might not scale well when the user base or feature set grows, giving rise to performance issues.

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It’s important for organizations to have a strategy to curb technical debt. This could include practices discussed below, such as regular refactoring, code reviews, automated testing, and allocating a certain amount of development time to addressing technical debt. This way, organizations can ensure a healthy, maintainable codebase, a high-quality product, and a happy, productive development team.

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The Cost of Technical Debt

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Seventy-five percent of technology decision-makers expect their tech debt to reach moderate to severe levels by 2026, driven by the accelerated adoption of AI solutions, according to a 2024 report by global research and advisory firm Forrester.

By recognizing the impact of technical debt and implementing Agile/Scrum practices to reduce it, software development organizations can maintain a healthy codebase, accelerate product development, and deliver higher quality products.

In essence, technical debt is an inevitable part of software development. However, with conscious effort and strategic planning, it can be effectively managed.

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Reining in Technical Debt

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Agile and Scrum practices provide a framework for keeping technical debt in check. Here are five strategies:

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• Regular Refactoring: Refactoring is the process of improving the internal structure of the code without changing its external behavior. Regular refactoring helps keep the codebase clean and manageable.

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• Definition of Done (DoD): Include addressing technical debt in the DoD. This ensures that it is considered part of the regular work and not something to be postponed indefinitely.

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• Sprint Planning: Allocate a certain percentage of each sprint to address technical debt. This ensures that it is regularly paid down.

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• Backlog Prioritization: Technical debt items should be part of the product backlog and prioritized alongside new features and bug fixes.

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• Test Automation: Automated tests can catch regression errors introduced during refactoring or other changes, helping to maintain code quality.

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Remember, the aim isn’t to eliminate technical debt entirely—that’s impossible. The goal is to manage it effectively so that your organization can continue to innovate and deliver value to customers without being bogged down by the past.

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Laura Jennings is an Agile Coach at Tria Federal. She is a certified SAFe Advanced Scrum Master, Advanced Release Train Engineer, and SAFe Practice Consultant (SPC).