{"id":15781,"date":"2023-03-03T13:30:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T10:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railsware.com\/blog\/?p=15781"},"modified":"2025-10-10T18:31:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:31:35","slug":"reduce-technical-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/railsware.com\/blog\/reduce-technical-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Reduce Technical Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Whether you’re looking to improve efficiency, increase competitiveness, or simply stay ahead of the curve, reducing tech debt is a critical step in the right direction. In this article, we\u2019ll offer practical tips on how companies can ensure their products remain high-performing and sustainable in the long term.<\/div>\n\n\n
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What is technical debt?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Technical debt (TD) is the cost of reworking software that is difficult to modify or maintain. It usually happens when the development team takes shortcuts in favor of speed of delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech debt is a metaphor and an umbrella term for multiple different types of debt. This makes it tricky to define, pinpoint or track. In this article, we\u2019ll discuss how to prevent the most common types: code debt <\/strong>and architectural debt. <\/strong>And for engineers, the tell-tale signs are 1. A change to the software is unusually hard to implement or 2. The code became more complicated after introducing a simple change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Artur\n

Artur Hebda<\/h4>\n

Full Stack Engineer<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From a developer’s point of view, technical debt is anything you tell yourself you’re going to fix “later.” But more often than not, later never comes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s still much confusion and debate about what counts as tech debt. So let\u2019s clear that up. From our perspective, tech debt can\u2019t be boiled down to the number of FIXMEs or TODOs in the codebase \u2013 it\u2019s more nuanced than that. It\u2019s also not identical to bugs or badly-written code. Bugs can be caused by tech debt, but TD isn\u2019t limited to bugs. And bad or messy code doesn\u2019t always evolve into tech debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is it important to reduce tech debt?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Left unchecked, technical debt can have a serious impact on your company\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like financial debt, TD accrues interest over time. The longer it\u2019s ignored, the more costly it becomes. For example, if an engineering team fails to update dependencies regularly, it can lead to unexpected costs down the road. Why? Because when a library or framework deprecates, the team will have to spend unplanned time repairing or replacing it. Over months and years, unmanaged tech debt erodes the quality and scalability of your product. It can also hinder your ability to hire new devs or rely on documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s estimated that software development teams waste about 23-42% of their time<\/a> dealing with the ramifications of technical debt. This drain on resources typically impacts delivery speed. Timelines often get harder to estimate, product improvements<\/a> get sidelined, and stakeholders grow uneasy with the lack of progress. Not to mention, developers can quickly get burned out when they are constantly working on issues that could have been avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of tech debt<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Wade Cunningham first coined the term technical debt in the 1990s, he was mainly referring to code debt. However, the definition has expanded a lot since then. We can now say there are several different types of tech debt, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Architectural debt<\/strong> occurs when <\/strong>we make sub-optimal decisions about <\/strong>the system architecture. For example, you build your web application using a low-code platform (e.g WordPress). But later, when applying user feedback, you realize that your product requires way more customization than the platform can offer. If you have an online store, for example, you may have avoided this if you started out using frameworks or leading B2B e-commerce software solutions<\/a> – but this gets trickier in the case of other products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Code debt. <\/strong>This is the classic definition of tech debt. It refers to the consequences of writing code that is difficult to interpret, update or maintain. The code might be overcomplicated, inconsistent, or contain errors that can result in bugs or other issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure debt <\/strong>can <\/strong>accumulate <\/strong>when the infrastructure (e.g. servers, databases) supporting a system is not properly maintained or upgraded. This can result in critical performance issues, such as unplanned downtime or the slow loading time of key product features<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Documentation debt <\/strong>occurs when developers fail to document their code correctly. Missing, incomplete, or outdated explanations can cause confusion when coworkers or new team members come in contact with that code. In bigger systems, doc debt can also make it hard for engineers to interpret how certain processes or features actually work, and how parts of the codebase are connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data debt <\/strong>is incurred when software teams don\u2019t properly invest in data management. Failing to break down information silos can cause data duplication or missing data, making it difficult for product teams to properly connect with users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security debt <\/strong>builds up when proper security measures are not considered during the software development process. For example, the team delays fixing a known system vulnerability, which increases the likelihood of an SQL injection attack. Unmanaged security debt can lead to major data breaches and other serious violations. This is particularly relevant in cloud-based platforms, where Salesforce data security<\/a> plays a crucial role in safeguarding customer information. Poorly managed security settings, such as weak access controls or insufficient encryption, can create vulnerabilities that cyber threats can exploit, prompting individuals to ask should I turn on VPN on iPhone<\/a> to bolster their own defenses. Using VPN browsers<\/a>, and implementing other security measures, including regular software updates<\/a>, strong and unique passwords, and multi-factor authentication, can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common tech debt triggers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Business and management causes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n