Are you cutting corners at the expense of your business? Cutting corners in software development creates technical debt

Debt is a good servant but a bad master. Even in the old days, people knew that borrowing is easy and brings temporary relief, but repaying it can be challenging and cause difficulties. When taking on debt, the decision must therefore always be made after careful consideration and a realistic assessment. You should therefore take into account, at the very least, your financing needs, your own financial situation, the terms of the loan and the risks involved.

The same rules apply to technical debt; taking on debt can be justified and deliberate. For example, in a situation where you need to test a software prototype or MVP on the commercial market in order to secure funding for further development. Technical debt can also be incurred unintentionally without careful consideration, when taking the path of least resistance and resorting to quick fixes with short-term savings in mind.

Technical debt as a concept

So what does technical debt mean? Technical debt is the cost of the extra work you’ll have to do in the future on software development if you choose the easiest and quickest solution, rather than careful work and long-term planning. In such cases, the decision is made for the sake of short-term speed or cost savings, even though these may cause problems and incur additional costs in the future. The term ‘technical debt’ was originally coined in 1992 by Ward Cunningham, the developer of the Wiki concept and one of the software developers who drafted the Agile Manifesto. However, the meaning of the term has also been interpreted more broadly over time.

Nowadays, the term ‘technical debt’ can also refer, for example, to a situation where the software itself increases a company’s technical debt when insufficient resources are allocated to its development and maintenance. No software can function indefinitely if it is simply coded once and then left to run on a server without further attention. In this scenario, technical debt refers to outdated information systems within a company, which require, for example, updates to software components or libraries and other modernization measures in order to operate efficiently and securely, and to meet the changing needs of the operating environment and business.

We can refer to these as ‘legacy systems’. These systems may have been in use within a company for decades, and no longer meet current needs or technological requirements. Legacy systems can be challenging to maintain, update and integrate with newer systems, and they can limit an organisation’s ability to adapt to changing business needs and technological innovations.

Read more: AI-enhanced system modernization brings speed and cost efficiency

The difference between intentional and unintentional technical debt

Technical debt can be a company’s worst enemy or, at that moment, a perfectly sensible partner. It can have a direct impact on the efficiency, flexibility and profitability of a business, either positively or negatively. That is why it is important to understand what technical debt means and how it can affect your company’s success.

Intentional technical debt

Intentional technical debt: business decision-makers and the development team may consciously decide to incur such debt in order to achieve short-term benefits, even while acknowledging that this decision may result in costs or challenges in the future. This can happen, for example, when decision-makers do not have a large enough development budget for the option that would best serve the organisation’s needs in the future. Or, for example, when a development team opts for a quick but less-than-ideal solution so that they can deliver a product or feature quickly due to a tight deadline or resource constraints. Technical debt is often incurred when implementing experimental features. In practice, these are features where it is not yet clear whether they are necessary for the application or system, but a prototype is needed to inform this decision-making process, from which user feedback can be gathered (e.g. A/B testing). If it is decided to implement the feature, it may be rebuilt from scratch, meaning that, in principle, the work put into building the prototype was ‘wasted’; yet, on the other hand, it was necessary in order to reach a decision. Taking on technical debt can also make sense in situations where there will never be a return on the investment, such as when a software product’s lifecycle is coming to an end and only a short-term solution is needed quickly.

Managing technical debt in a deliberate manner requires a clear plan for how the debt will be repaid. This can be achieved, for example, through code reorganisation (refactoring), improving documentation, developing automation processes, or other corrective measures that enhance the long-term maintainability and quality of the product or system. Intentional technical debt can be useful in the short term, but its uncontrolled accumulation can lead to problems and additional costs in later stages of software development. It is important to strike a balance between short-term benefits and long-term consequences, and to manage intentional technical debt carefully.

Read more: Further development and modernization of a PHP system – how to go about it the smart way?

Pointless technical debt

Unintentional technical debt accumulates when quick fixes are implemented during software development; these may work temporarily but cause problems and hinder the system’s development in the long term. This can manifest itself in poorly designed and documented solutions, technically obsolete systems or security vulnerabilities. Alternatively, it may also manifest itself in the form of the development and modernization of business-critical systems being postponed for too long. Technical debt can therefore have serious consequences for your company. It can create significant information security risks, slow down the development of new features, cause system instability and increase maintenance costs. Furthermore, it can lead to customer dissatisfaction, business losses and a weakened competitive position in the market.

The solution to the problem is to focus on the quality of software development and on the maintenance and updating of technology. This means, for example, using programming languages and technologies that have been tried and tested, have been in use for a sufficiently long time and are widely adopted, which have a large developer community and are expected to continue to be supported well into the future. Clear and efficient code, well-designed architectures and a culture of continuous improvement are key to reducing technical debt. The decision to invest in software development in general, and in its quality, ensures that your company is ready for the challenges and opportunities that the future holds.

Investing in high-quality software development is a strategic choice

Quality comes at a price. We steer well clear of quick fixes and makeshift solutions. We write exceptionally clean code that both we and our clients can be proud of. High-quality code enables long-term savings and reliable performance. Investing in high-quality software development is not merely an expense; it is a strategic choice that guarantees increased value and a competitive advantage for your organisation. We have the expertise and vision to create sustainable and meaningful code in line with our vision, tailored to the demands of a changing world, through which we can support and promote the success of your business.

The original definition of technical debt has primarily referred to the quality of the code produced. Technical debt and a software developer’s commitment to quality are, in fact, closely linked, and a high commitment to quality demonstrates professional pride, which is one of our values. In this context, quality ethos refers to a commitment to producing high-quality code – or, as we say, ‘clean code’. This involves careful planning, adherence to good programming practices, testing and bug fixing. Technical debt, on the other hand, refers to short-term decisions or compromises made during software development and includes, for example, poorly designed or hastily written code, poor documentation, the use of outdated technologies or inadequate testing. Creating technical debt is therefore contrary to our values.

So, when making an investment decision regarding the development of your company’s software, it’s important to remember to invest in high-quality design, development and testing in the early stages of the software development project, in order to avoid significant technical debt and additional costs in the future. So don’t skimp on your company’s future – simply saying “it works” isn’t always enough. Even if code written hastily and cheaply works now, it isn’t necessarily a sustainable solution. Investing in high-quality software development is not only cost-effective in the long term, but it also lays the foundations for your company’s future success.

Whether you need to develop a new application or further develop existing software, we offer our expertise and insight to assist you. We develop digital services that help boost our clients’ competitiveness. Conceptualization, specification, design, implementation and maintenance – we manage the entire lifecycle of a software development project, while listening to our clients. So please don’t hesitate to get in touch!