Developers are pushing for new features over reducing technical debt. How will you prioritize effectively?

One thing I've found helpful is to think about technical debt as a necessary evil in software development. It can be strategically used to achieve quick wins and meet pressing deadlines. The key is to recognize when technical debt is manageable and when it's threatening to derail your project. If you have a process which can help you and your team assess continuously the debt's impact on productivity, code quality and team morale then you can plan accordingly ways to pay it off. It's all about balancing new feature development with regular technical debt assessment and resolution. In this way you can ensure that the short-term benefits do not compromise the long-term sustainability and project success.

Aim for a balanced approach where each development sprint or cycle includes some allocation of time for addressing technical debt alongside new feature development. This avoids accumulating large amounts of technical debt over time and ensures ongoing improvement of code quality.

To prioritize new features and reducing technical debt, assess the impact of both on the project. Communicate with stakeholders and schedule time for both in each sprint. Use data to show how technical debt affects long-term goals and ensure the team understands the benefits of a healthy codebase for future development. Hope it helps :)

Lo primero que hay que tener claro es de que manera influye la deuda técnica en nuevas o futuras funcionalidades. Si se halla una relación directa la deuda técnica puede multiplicarse al desarrollar la nueva funcionalidad. Debemos atajar la deuda para evitar un efecto bola de nieve. Si la deuda técnica no se ve incrementada por la nueva funcionalidad digamos que no influye en la decisión. Si la funcionalidad nueva hace innecesaria la parte que acumula mas deuda técnica habremos dado un salto de gigante.

When development teams cut corners or make concessions while working on a project, technical debt results. Time restrictions, the need to deliver rapidly, or a lack of resources could be the cause of this. These short cuts could be skipping documentation, delaying refactoring, or writing hurried and messy code. Like debt in money terms, debt in technology accrues interest over time. The extra work needed in next development cycles is the interest. Debt can make it more difficult to maintain the product, add new features, or resolve errors as the codebase changes. This may result in longer development times, lower-quality code, and lower output.

Adding new features to the system to enhance customer satisfaction often results in increased technical debt. It's crucial to perform a risk assessment and impact analysis before implementing such a system. Ultimately, the risks associated with compounding technical debt may outweigh the potential benefits

End-User Perspective: Incorporate end-user Feedback into the testing process to ensure that the software meets user needs and expectations. Perform usability testing to ensure that the software is intuitive and user-friendly.

It's critical to balance the costs and dangers of technological debt with the advantages of additional functionality. The long-term hazards of a delicate, challenging-to-maintain system must be weighed against the short-term rewards in customer happiness and competitive edge. Think about how long-term sustainable the product will be. Too much technological debt can eventually make a product unsustainable or necessitate extensive revision in order to keep it evolving.

New features can definitely attract new users and keep existing ones engaged. It's a must in the general evolution of a software product. Continuously adding new features without resolving in parallel foundational issues can lead to an increase in technical debt. It's crucial to find the right balance between launching new features and addressing technical debt for the long-term health of the system.

Integrating additional functionalities into the app to improve customer satisfaction frequently leads to the accumulation of technical debt. It is essential to conduct a thorough risk assessment and impact analysis before incorporating these enhancements. Ultimately, the potential drawbacks of accruing technical debt may outweigh the anticipated benefits.

Balance Immediate Needs with Long-term Goals: Evaluate the impact of new features versus the risks and costs of accumulating technical debt. Consider both short-term gains and long-term sustainability. Assess Impact and Value: Use metrics such as customer value, revenue impact, and user experience improvements to weigh the importance of new features against the urgency of addressing technical debt. Incremental Refactoring: Integrate debt reduction into regular development cycles. For example, allocate a percentage of each sprint or iteration to refactoring and addressing technical debt. Technical Debt Backlog: Maintain a separate backlog for technical debt items. Regularly review and prioritize it alongside new feature requests.

La deuda técnica no es algo que se pueda cortar en pedacitos de igual tamaño como si fuera una tarta. No es eficaz por tanto preasignar tiempos predeterminados en momentos predeterminados porque pueden ser insuficientes o excesivos además de poder llegar tarde o cuando son otras las prioridades. Hay que estimarla por separado y planificarla a lo largo de todas las fases que restan de forma efectiva. Si es preciso dedicando un periodo exclusivo.

For new features and technical debt to be balanced, this is essential. Technical debt cannot grow unchecked if a portion of every development cycle is devoted to its reduction. It can be effective to handle technical debt in addition to developing new features. By using this method, you can improve overall development velocity by resolving problems that have a direct impact on the creation of new features. Including your team in talks regarding prioritisation promotes ownership and comprehension. It's critical that all parties understand the trade-offs and agree on the selected course of action.

Depending on urgency, one thing that I've found helpful is to include refactoring tasks with automated tests as part of new feature development. In this way, you reduce technical debt as you go along in the development process.

Agile methodology employs short, focused cycles known as sprints to foster iterative development. Typically lasting from one to four weeks, each sprint revolves around completing a prioritized set of tasks. This approach enables teams to deliver functionality incrementally, ensuring frequent development and deployment of new features. Agile practices emphasize regular reassessment and prioritization of tasks. At the beginning of each sprint, product owners and teams review and adjust priorities based on customer feedback, technical requirements, and business goals. This allows teams to allocate their resources effectively between adding new features and addressing technical debt as necessary.

Agile uses brief cycles, or sprints, to promote iterative development. Usually lasting one to four weeks, each sprint centres around the team's completion of a prioritised set of tasks. Teams can supply functionality incrementally with this method, which guarantees the frequent development and deployment of new features. Agile approaches place a strong emphasis on routine task reevaluation and reordering. Each sprint starts with a review and adjustment of priorities by product owners and teams based on customer feedback, technical considerations, and business needs. Teams may now divide their time and resources between adding new features and resolving technical debt as needed.

Adopting an agile approach can help balance the need for new features with the reduction of technical debt. • Sprint Planning: Allocate a portion of each sprint to addressing technical debt. This ensures continuous improvement without sacrificing feature development. • Refactoring: Encourage regular refactoring to keep the codebase clean and manageable. This can be integrated into the development process as part of the definition of done. • Backlog Management: Maintain a healthy backlog that includes both new features and technical debt items. Prioritize and groom the backlog regularly.

In an iterative development process, such as Agile, you have a structured way to allocate time for both introducing new features and reducing technical debt while maintaining the flexibility needed in order to switch priorities based on urgency. By adopting Agile practices, you can maintain this dynamic balance, ensuring continuous feature development while keeping a robust codebase.

Any decision making process involving the core technical aspects of a product has to involve your team members. It makes you understand what features needs utmost priority over others. By encouraging open dialogue about the costs and benefits of new features versus technical debt reduction, it makes your team have a more balanced approach to development that aligns with their capabilities. This way, the end results are more likely to appeal to developers as they are people with deep technical insights of a project.

It is crucial to foster a culture based on transparency, collaboration and open dialogue. Only by having everybody aligned on the same page, by using their collective expertise, you can drive the best decisions to lead the project to success while keeping in mind costs, benefits, prioritisations etc.

Typically, developers have first-hand knowledge of the codebase and extensive technical expertise. They can offer insightful information on current technological difficulties and the extent of technical debt. Understanding the effects of various choices on the project's long-term viability and maintainability requires this feedback. Open communication is essential when deciding whether to put more emphasis on technical debt reduction or new features.

First assess the impact on users and business goals. Then you can gather user feedback to understand which features or improvements are most requested or critical for user satisfaction. Then make sure to align feature development and technical debt reduction with the company’s strategic goals, such as revenue growth, market expansion, or improving user retention.

New features are exciting! But, I've been around the block enough to know that technical debt can be a ticking time bomb. So, here's how I prioritize: first, I acknowledge the devs' enthusiasm for new features, but then I explain the risks of neglecting technical debt. I use analogies like 'building a house on shaky ground' to drive the point home. Next, I work with the team to identify the most critical technical debt tasks that will have the greatest impact. We tackle those first, and then allocate time for new features. I also make sure we're not just throwing band-aids at the problem, but really addressing the root causes. By finding this balance, we can innovate while also building a solid foundation for our tech stack.

Create a roadmap to manage your technical debt. We will always have some and we should learn how to manage it. In my opinion it should be similar to managing features. It should be prioritize and be included in a sprint in parallel to the features we need to do and not pushed back by them.

• Stakeholder Alignment: Ensure alignment between development teams and stakeholders regarding the importance of managing technical debt alongside new features. • Long-Term Vision: Keep the long-term vision in mind, balancing short-term gains with sustainable development practices. • Tooling and Automation: Invest in tools and automation that can help manage technical debt, such as static code analysis tools and automated testing frameworks.