Tech debt vs Shiny projects

New experiences are always exciting. Who doesn’t like to venture into a new project… move to a new exciting place… try out a new restaurant. It’s hard to meet a person who doesn’t. It’s like finding someone who doesn’t like to travel.

Rarely you’d find someone who can say they enjoy doing daily chores. Laundry, taking out the garbage, cleaning dishes… We do it anyway or we delegate it.

Tech debt is like doing laundry. Shiny projects are like skydiving.

In the software world, it could mean one of the following

I would like to add sustenance projects to this list but cannot because it is not exactly tech debt. Nevertheless, it shares some consequences and solutions with that of tech debt. Worth pulling it in.

Like it or not every software company has some amount of tech debt in some form which middle management struggles to deal with.

Why is it important to fix? — Slows down new development.

Why not replace it with new software? — Cost.

Tech debt is usually found in mature products. Products that keep the lights on in organisations. Projects which are rationed poorly from the company’s overall budget. A handsome chunk of the budget is allocated for new ventures to give them that initial push.

Projects which involve engineers building software from scratch or/and learn new tech stack. Every engineer would love nothing more than building something from the ground up. This would also mean more funding for marketing and thereby more visibility. However, when new projects start, their team sizes are small. Creating scanty opportunities. Opportunities to work with cutting edge tech and build a successful career.

Every company deals with this problem in ways suitable to it. The decision mainly depends on the organisation size, resources at their disposable, among other aspects.

Deal with attrition. Let go of engineers because let’s face it, healthy work environments are not made of unhappy employees. Hire motivated individuals who can take their place. This can be an option if the company can hire fast and the risk of losing knowledge base during transitions is contained.

Delegate it to third party vendors who can work on a contract basis. Works if you can afford it.

Rotate work. One of the more sustainable ways to deal with this in larger companies is to balance both kinds of work among engineers. Everyone at some point gets to work on tech debt or sustenance or a shiny project. This enhances an engineer’s skill to deal with all kinds of problems — the exciting ones and the difficult ones.

It’s a tough one to solve. There is no hard and fast rule. It’s always best to choose one or more strategies that work for your organisation.

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