Technical debt is like credit card debt, it compounds if ignored.

If you’ve ever had a credit card, then you probably know the drill: you buy something, the statement comes in, and you think, “I’ll deal with it next month”. Then interest piles up, and suddenly that small purchase ends up costing you more than you expected, or in the worst-case (admittedly contrived) scenario, becomes the reason you eventually end up filing for bankruptcy.

It’s the same with software. Think back to the last project where someone said, “Let’s just get this working for now,” or “We’ll write tests later,” or “We can clean this up when we have time.” That’s technical debt in action. And just like financial debt, you always pay for it in the end, with interest.

Here’s the twist: taking shortcuts to move faster usually slows you down in the long run. The longer you leave technical debt unpaid, the more expensive and painful it gets to fix.

Unchecked technical debt is a bad thing because it causes:
🚩 Slower development cycles and missed deadlines
🚩 More time spent fixing issues instead of delivering features
🚩 Frustrated customers dealing with bugs and missing features
🚩 Security risks from outdated or fragile code
🚩 Higher maintenance cost
🚩 Harder onboarding for new developers
🚩 Underestimating features

But here’s a potentially controversial opinion: Just like how not all financial debt is bad, not all technical debt is bad.

Here’s why I say this: Essentially, technical debt is your team’s way of borrowing future productivity to boost current productivity. This makes sense to do in some cases, for example, if you are in the proof-of-concept stage, or you are an early-stage start-up and are just trying to survive and pivot until you find a product-market fit.

In the former case, you may end up throwing everything away, while in the latter case, shipping something is better than shipping nothing, since if you’re not in business, technical debt will be the least of your worries. But even in those cases, if it’s not managed properly, it will sink rather than save you.

So, if you already have technical debt or need to take it on, how should you handle it?
✅ Track and measure it, create tickets for all debts, and estimate them.
✅ Prioritize what you pay down, because not all debt is equal.
✅ Build time for refactoring into your process and estimations.
✅ Clean as you go, fix small things as you notice them
✅ Make technical debt a business priority, not just a developer headache
✅ Be intentional: Only take on new debt with a plan to pay it off

Technical debt is a tool, not a pitfall. Managed well, it can accelerate your project. Ignored, it compounds and can cause your project’s failure.

If your team is struggling to keep up with mounting technical debt, let’s chat! We help businesses find the right balance between shipping features and building for the future. 🚀