09-22, 11:30–12:30 (Europe/London), Assembly Room
Unmanaged technical debt weighs down many codebases, exerting drag on their schedules, but it is more often an effect than a cause. We will look at what technical debt is (and is not) with a view to properly attributing the root and recurring cause as technical neglect than technical debt.
Many developers evoke the mischievous spirit and day-to-day burden of technical debt to explain the misfortunes and troubles of their codebase and delivery. While unmanaged technical debt weighs down many codebases and exerts drag on their schedules, it is more often an effect than a cause. In this talk, we will look at what is and is not meant by technical debt — and other metaphors — with a view to properly attributing the root and recurring cause as technical neglect than technical debt. Without seeing technical neglect for what it is, we will continue to misattribute our problems to an effect rather than a cause.
Kevlin is an independent consultant, trainer, speaker and writer. His development interests are at the intersection of programming, practice and people. He is co-author of two volumes in the Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture series, editor of 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know and co-editor of 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know. He lives in Bristol and online.