Technical Debt
/ˈtɛknɪkəl dɛt/tech·ni·cal debtnoun
Definition
1.[in software engineering] the future cost incurred by choosing an expedient implementation now instead of a sounder one, paid back as extra effort on every later change.
Shipping the prototype as-is bought us a quarter and left three months of technical debt.
2.[in project management] the accumulated backlog of deferred cleanup, upgrades and documentation that a codebase carries as a measurable liability.
The team reserves one sprint in five for technical debt.
Etymology
Coined by Ward Cunningham in a 1992 OOPSLA experience report, extending the financial sense of debt: shipping imperfect code is borrowing against future velocity, and the interest is the extra work every subsequent change costs.
Synonyms
- design debtsense 1 · Near
- code debtsense 1 · Near
See also
References
- Cunningham, W. (1992). The WyCash Portfolio Management System.OOPSLA '92 Experience Report.
- Fowler, M. (2019). Technical Debt Quadrant.martinfowler.com