𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴

Technical debt happens. Do not let it grow until you need a full rewrite. Manage it with a plan.

Sort your debt by impact and effort.

• Fix high impact, low effort items now.
• Monitor low impact, high effort items.
• Make a plan for high impact, high effort items.

Use business language. Do not say the code is messy. Say a task takes three days instead of one. This helps bosses understand the cost.

Follow the boy scout rule. Leave code cleaner than you found it. Spend ten percent more time on structure when you add a feature.

Hide bad code behind clean interfaces. Use an API. This lets you fix the inside without breaking the outside.

Set a schedule for debt work. Use every third sprint or one week per quarter. This keeps feature work moving.

Track your progress. Check test coverage and build times. Watch the time it takes to add features.

Source: https://dev.to/therizwansaleem/how-to-handle-technical-debt-without-rewriting-everything-1np9