Description:

Technical debt, a term coined by Ward Cunningham, is incurred by every project when the quick and easy route is taken to solve a problem. As technical debt builds up the problems of cruft begin to multiply. Development slows, bugs increase, deadlines are missed and frustration ensues. At chi.mp we incur technical debt just like any other development team. In this talk I’ll show you how we approach the reduction of our technical debt. Sometimes it makes sense to refactor existing code and sometimes it makes sense to start all over on certain parts of the code. In either case there are essential elements to successful technical debt reduction, including a solid understanding of the business requirements, a comprehensive test suite and both management and development teams that understand the importance of debt reduction. Ultimately, just like with reduction of financial debt, reducing your technical debt should leave you feeling satisfied and rejuvenated, ready to tackle future programming challenges.