Technical Debt Is Inevitable

Technical debt is the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing a quick-and-easy solution instead of a better approach that would take longer. Every software project accumulates technical debt — the question is not whether you have it, but whether you manage it deliberately. At Nexis Limited, we balance shipping features quickly with maintaining code quality across all four SaaS products.

Types of Technical Debt

  • Deliberate debt: Conscious shortcuts taken to meet a deadline, with plans to refactor later. Example: hardcoding configuration values instead of building a settings page.
  • Accidental debt: Design decisions that seemed fine at the time but proved problematic as requirements evolved. Example: a database schema that does not support a new feature without significant restructuring.
  • Bit rot: Code that degrades over time as dependencies update, team members change, and documentation becomes stale.
  • Dependency debt: Outdated libraries and frameworks that accumulate security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues.

Identifying Technical Debt

Look for these signals:

  • Features that take significantly longer to implement than expected
  • Areas of the codebase that developers avoid modifying
  • High defect density in specific modules
  • Slow test suites or unreliable tests
  • Frequent production incidents in the same components
  • New team members struggling to understand specific parts of the codebase

The 20% Rule

Allocate approximately 20% of engineering capacity to addressing technical debt. This is not a rigid rule — some sprints may need 30% for debt reduction, others only 10%. The key is consistency. Debt reduction should be a standing line item in sprint planning, not a special project that gets deprioritized when feature pressure mounts.

Strategies for Debt Reduction

  • Boy Scout Rule: Leave code better than you found it. When modifying a file for a feature, clean up small debt items — rename unclear variables, add missing types, remove dead code.
  • Refactoring sprints: Dedicate occasional sprints to focused refactoring of specific modules. This works well for larger structural changes.
  • Automated quality gates: Configure linters, formatters, and CI checks that prevent new debt from being introduced. The best time to fix code quality is before it is merged.
  • Dependency updates: Use tools like Renovate or Dependabot to keep dependencies current with automated pull requests and CI verification.

Communicating Debt to Stakeholders

Technical debt is a business issue, not just an engineering issue. Frame debt discussions in terms of business impact: "This technical debt increases our time-to-market for new features by an estimated 30%." Stakeholders understand speed and risk, not abstractions about code cleanliness.

Conclusion

Technical debt management is a skill, not a one-time activity. Identify debt systematically, allocate regular time for reduction, prevent new debt with automated quality gates, and communicate impact in business terms. This balanced approach keeps your codebase healthy while maintaining feature velocity.

Growing your engineering team? Let us help with architecture reviews and technical debt assessment.