Christina Forney’s Post

⏩ In the fast-paced world of product development, it's tempting to rush and cut corners. But beware, those shortcuts can lead to technical debt! Find out how to balance speed and quality for a smoother product journey. #ProductManager #CodeQuality https://hubs.ly/Q0272H7y0

What's the role of a Product Manager when faced with tech debt? Seasoned PMs look at tech debt in a different way than newer entrants. Here are a few aspects to consider: [1] Who owns it? Basic PM → The engineering team has to deal with it. I'll allocate sprint bandwidth to them. Experienced PM → Software architecture is one of many reasons. Tech debt can be a result of tradeoffs consciously taken by the team to meet time-to-market goals. It can even be introduced by a poorly written spec, strategy, or roadmap. Lack of foresight can blind engineering teams too. [2] What's the root cause of tech debt? Basic PM → Engineering oversight. Unavoidable wear and tear in code. Experienced PM → Tech debt can be a result of tradeoffs consciously taken by the team to meet time-to-market goals and lack of foresight. It can even be introduced by a poorly written spec, strategy or roadmap. [3] When do we address it? Basic PM → Immediately OR only when absolutely necessary. Experienced PM → Tech debt varies in severity. The product strategy and roadmap determine whether debt affects a critical upcoming need and how quickly it needs to be addressed. Some can be left alone. Other might be better proactively addressed. [4] How do we allocate time to it? Basic PM → Allocate a fixed X% of every sprint to tech debt. Experienced PM → Discuss allocation collaboratively. Some debt can’t be split. Some demands extensive RnD. Also, budgeted efforts can result in over-engineering areas needlessly. -- The list is not exhaustive, of course. What are other aspects of tech debt that you have started considering as a PM with more experience?

The Hidden Costs of Technical Debt: A Product Manager's Guide As product managers, we often focus on delivering new features and meeting market demands. However, there's a silent killer lurking in our codebases that can derail even the most promising products: technical debt. Let's see what it is, why it matters, and how to manage it effectively. What is Technical Debt? Technical debt is the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy (limited) solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer. It's like taking out a loan on your codebase – you get quick wins now, but you'll pay interest in the future. The Real Costs of Technical Debt 1. Slower Development: As debt accumulates, even simple changes become time-consuming. What should take hours starts taking days or weeks. 2. Increased Bugs: Patched-together solutions are more prone to bugs, leading to more customer complaints and damaged reputation. 3. Lower Team Morale: Developers hate working with messy code. High technical debt can lead to frustration and even employee turnover. 4. Reduced Agility: A debt-laden codebase is harder to adapt to market changes or pivot when necessary. 5. Higher Operational Costs: Systems with high technical debt often require more resources to run and maintain. Why Technical Debt Accumulates • Pressure to release quickly • Lack of alignment between business and technical teams • Insufficient investment in developer tools and training • Poor documentation and knowledge transfer • Short-term thinking in planning and resource allocation Strategies for Managing Technical Debt 1. Make it Visible: Use tools to measure and visualize technical debt. Make it a regular part of sprint reviews and planning. 2. Allocate Time: Set aside a percentage of each sprint (typically 10-20%) for debt reduction. 3. Prioritize Wisely: Not all debt is equal. Focus on areas that are causing the most pain or slowing you down the most. 4. Educate Stakeholders: Help non-technical team members understand the importance of managing technical debt. 5. Improve Processes: Implement code reviews, pair programming, and other practices that prevent debt accumulation. 6. Plan for the Long Term: When making technical decisions, consider the long-term implications, not just the immediate needs. The Product Manager's Role As a PM, you play a crucial role in managing technical debt: • Advocate for technical health in roadmap discussions • Work with engineering leads to understand and communicate the impact of technical debt • Balance new feature development with debt reduction in sprint planning • Foster a culture that values code quality and sustainable development practices Remember, managing technical debt is not about achieving perfection. It's about making conscious trade-offs and ensuring the long-term health of your product. #TechnicalDebt #ProductManagement #SoftwareDevelopment #EngineeringLeadership

CEO/CFO, how much Technical Debt do you carry? Technical debt is the sum of these 2 quantities: 1. DUCT TAPE that holds your system together. 2. RUST that has accumulated. Duct tape represents improvisations due to: • Quick fixes that were needed to "plug leaks". • Pressure to deliver faster by cutting corners. • Implementing experimental features with minimum effort, in order to gather data to decide whether to pursue them. Rust represents the slow decay of systems that aren't maintained actively enough: • Core assumptions erode as the business evolves. • Third party dependencies evolve, requiring changes. • Performance degrades due to significant traffic growth. • Security patches need to be applied, and best practices change. SO WHAT!? Tech debt can be leveraged to your advantage: 😎 Faster feature implementations: 85% of features fail to deliver the expected value. Experiments that don't make it can just be removed. Successful experiments will need a second implementation phase, where the cut corners get straightened out. 😎 Faster MVP implementation: This is just like for features, only for the the whole product. Disadvantages of carrying long term tech debt: 😡 Lost productivity: The more improvisations there are, the longer it takes to deliver new features.  You could call this "interest" on the debt. 😡 Lost business: Due to breakdowns, missing features, bad performance, security issues. 😡 Increased risk of employee churn: Nobody wants to work on a system that is not well maintained, has frequent breakdowns and emergencies, with little hope of being able to change this. What is your company's attitude towards technical debt? ----- Algorithm: 📈 Grow past 10 to 20 software engineers. ⛔️ Hit inevitable engineering productivity roadblocks. 🤙 Call Itzy Sabo — I'll remove them for you ... or WITH you. 👉 [FOLLOW] me for curious anecdotes and insider tips! #cto #startups #engineeringmanagement

Every product team that's lucky enough to stay in place for a while will encounter a variety of things we often call "tech debt." As others, like Chelsea Troy, have pointed out, there's a whole set of different issues that we lump under that label. They all have similar consequences, though: increased incidental complexity that takes up a larger and larger cognitive load ("friction") leading to decreased velocity. Marty Cagan pointed out almost 20 years ago that while, unchecked, this can build up and eventually require scrapping the whole thing, you can also plan proactively to avoid big rewrites. Not every type of "debt," however, can be addressed well in "20% time" or "sustaining engineering" work. Other sources of debt need different types of planning. I wrote about a few of the biggest ones for LeadDev: https://lnkd.in/eiTGNbYc

Tech Debt: The Silent Project Killer In the fast-paced world of tech, delivering features quickly often takes priority. But beware the hidden cost: Tech Debt. Imagine a startup that needs to launch a new feature to stay ahead of the competition. The development team decides to take a shortcut to meet the tight deadline. They deliver the feature quickly, but the code isn’t as clean or well-documented as it should be. Conversation Between a Technical and Non-Technical Person: Non-Technical Person (Product Manager): "Great job on launching the new feature so quickly! Our users love it. Can we add another similar feature next month?" Technical Person (Developer): "I'm glad it's well-received! However, we incurred some tech debt to meet the deadline. We need to refactor the code before adding new features to ensure the system remains stable and maintainable." Non-Technical Person: "Tech debt? Can you explain what that means and why it's important?" Technical Person: "Tech Debt refers to the shortcuts taken in coding and architecture that speed up delivery today but can slow down progress tomorrow. Like financial debt, it accumulates interest, manifesting as increased maintenance costs, bugs, and reduced agility. We took a shortcut to deliver quickly, but now we have some 'interest' to pay. If we keep adding features without addressing this, the code will become harder to manage, leading to more bugs and slower development. It’s crucial we 'pay off' some of this debt now to keep the project healthy and efficient in the long run." Impact: By taking time to address tech debt, the team ensures the codebase remains robust, which speeds up future development, reduces bugs, and keeps the system scalable. This proactive approach prevents larger issues down the road and supports sustainable growth. 🔍Why it Matters to Everyone: - Developers: More bugs and complex code slow down your work. - Product Managers: Slower release cycles and reduced innovation. - QA Engineers: Increased testing overhead and risk. - Executives: Higher long-term costs and technical stagnation. 💡 Key Takeaway: Regularly refactor code and prioritize technical health to keep your project sustainable and competitive. Addressing tech debt isn’t just a developer’s task; it’s a collective responsibility for a robust and innovative tech environment. #TechDebt #SoftwareDevelopment #Innovation #Agile #TechLeadership

Check out this insightful and unique take on technical debt by Itzy Sabo. Dive deep into the concept from an investment point of view in our article "𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀: 𝗮 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀": https://lnkd.in/eEY2M5aw #technicaldebt #investment #techleadership #softwaredevelopment

🌅 Out with the Old! Taking A Holistic View of Product Growth Strategy 🌅 In recent discussions about product growth strategy, I've emphasized the critical importance of sunsetting features and products. Product growth extends beyond revenue generation; it encompasses understanding the entire landscape to maintain current revenue, optimize costs, and ensure sustainable growth. Neglecting this balance risks retention issues, akin to creating a leaky bucket scenario for your product. Let's delve into the specifics: 1. Paying Off Technical Debts: Technical debt, often misunderstood, shares similarities with financial debt. When leveraged effectively, it can accelerate product development. However, like financial debt, unaddressed technical debt becomes problematic over time. Engineering teams may legitimately accrue technical debt when prioritizing speed to market, seeking quick revenue or validating new features. Yet, it's vital to acknowledge that this debt requires repayment. Once established that a feature built on technical debt is indispensable, a plan to pay it off must be prioritized. Ignoring technical debt stifles innovation and hampers long-term growth. Proactively addressing it frees up resources for more impactful endeavors. 2. Deprecating Old Code: It's easy to overlook the importance of allocating time to deprecate old code within engineering teams. This task is often undervalued by product teams, but it's crucial for maintaining a well-tuned codebase. Neglecting to deprecate old code can affect product performance and exacerbate issue resolution times. Timing is also critical; delaying the removal of deprecated code accumulates technical debt, resulting in increased cleanup efforts in the future. 3. Sunsetting Features and Products: Features that once added value may no longer align with your long-term strategy or incur higher maintenance costs than their worth. Low usage, coupled with no intention to further develop them, signals the need for sunsetting. Continuously supporting underperforming features or shelved experiments drains resources that could be allocated to more promising ventures. Proactively sunsetting such features or products not only eliminates unnecessary costs but also clears the path for new opportunities and experimentation. It's akin to decluttering your technological landscape, enabling your teams to operate more efficiently. In summary, a forward-thinking approach to product growth involves not only adding value but also optimizing existing resources and eliminating inefficiencies through strategic sunsetting. By addressing technical debt and sunsetting outdated features and products, businesses can position themselves for sustainable growth and innovation. Let's ensure that we're not just building for the present but also preparing for the future. 🔍 #ProductGrowth #ProductManagement #TechStrategy #TechLeadership #ProductDevelopment #SoftwareEngineering #TechDebt #BusinessStrategy #SustainableGrowth 🔍

As a PM, tech debt is the sort of thing that constantly looms over you. It’s always there, and it follows you around like a bad penny. Tech debt is all of the little things that aren’t quite right about your product behind the scenes. It’s all the workarounds that you’ve found to quickly make the product look and behave the way that it does. It’s the stuff that your engineering team has since learned could have been done a lot better. It’s the outdated software versions and overly-monolithic stacks that comprise our software. The most challenging part about tech debt is that users will never ask you to take some time to address it. Nobody’s ever received a call from a big enterprise customer asking if your team is planning on moving towards more of a microservices architecture anytime soon. Great product managers know where tech debt comes from, understand its costs, and know how to tie tech debt reduction efforts to measurable customer outcomes. Where does tech debt come from? Often how robust, how extensible, your product needs to be is a requirement born of the circumstances in which it was originally built. Small companies with small user bases quickly build small products to prove out their ideas, and so on. Read more... By Jack Moore https://lnkd.in/e8kSTciN #ai #products #productdevelopment #products #productmanager #productmanagement

You're probably spending too much time perfecting the technology no one uses. Here's a simple 3-step rule: 1️⃣ If you've not reached product market fit, spend 𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁. Yes, it will make some of your engineers unhappy. But your goal at this stage is not to build the best scalable platform that runs on bleeding-edge technology. Too many companies have fallen because they wanted that. No, you don't need to rewrite anything to microservices. That new framework? Forget about it for now. Your goal is to reach Product Market Fit. Your goal is to survive. Focus on your customers. Cut corners if needed. 2️⃣ Reach Product Market Fit 3️⃣ Reached PMF? Start scaling. Now you can start managing technical debt. Have a strategy for identifying it and paying for it. Not all tech debt should be repaid. If it's ugly but works and you're not working on something actively - don't touch it. Spend 10-30% of your engineer's time managing REAL technical debt. Remain your engineers focus on customers. Use technology to innovate. Remember that technology is just a canvas for your product. Oh, and 8/10 times, you still don't need those microservices and fancy new frameworks anyway. 4. Profit #StartupTips #EngineeringManagement #TechDebt #ProductMarketFit #GrowthStrategy