Laws of Software Engineering · Pattern

Pattern

Technical Debt

Shortcuts taken today add a cost that has to be paid later, with interest.

How to use it. Name the debt explicitly when you take it. Track it. Pay some down each cycle. The metaphor only works if the debt is visible. Invisible debt accrues like any other debt, but nobody notices until the interest is crippling.

How it gets misused. Used as a synonym for "code I do not like". Technical debt is a deliberate trade of speed now for cost later. Code that is just bad is mess. They are two different problems with different fixes.

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