Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Four Quadrants of Technical Debt

Martin Fowler has a piece breaking down "Technical Debt", i.e., shortcuts you take now will have to be "paid back" in the future.

The argument was made that some Technical Debt was not only inevitable, it was desirable. If taking on that debt meant making a ship date, then that debt was worthwhile.

The debt metaphor reminds us about the choices we can make with design flaws. The prudent debt to reach a release may not be worth paying down if the interest payments are sufficiently small - such as if it were in a rarely touched part of the code-base.

He also provides a nice graphic breakdown, worth reading. Check it out.

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