You probably heard someone say, “We will fix it later.”
Maybe you have said this yourself.
In the rush to launch a feature, meet a deadline, or affect a client, you shortcuts. The code works – for now. The design passes – for now.
But over time, these choices are piled up. They slow down you. They make every change difficult. This is a technical loan.
Technical loan is a calm, crawling price. It does not appear in the matrix such as denial or conversion rate. But it eats your product quality, your team’s speed, and your ability to innovate.
You didn’t feel it right now. Then, suddenly, everything feels slowly. Now nothing is easy.
A Big Fix breaks two new things. Engineers cry when they touch some parts of the code. Only when you realize that you are in debt.
Let’s talk about what technical debt really is, how it is, and how you can deal with it before hitting your product.
What is a technical loan?
Think about a financial loan like technical loan. When you take money, you get something now – at the price of interest later.
In the software, that is. You just make a quick decision to save time, knowing that it may make you more work below the line.
There is nothing wrong with it. Sometimes, borrowing is smart. You may need to send a fast to check an idea or respond to the market.
But if you keep lending and never pay, interest arises. And the technical debt cannot just grow – this is compounds. The more you leave it, the worse it gets.
You just don’t pay too much prices later. You slow down your entire team.
Every new feature takes longer. Broken insects. The drops of morale and eventually, your product feels fragile. Only when the actual loss begins.
Types of technical loan
Not all debt is the same. Some are like a short-term loan-you know you are taking it and why. The second debt is like a bad mortgage – unless things are broken, no one knows.
Here are the most common types:
Deliberately debt – You cut the corners to target a deadline but log it and plan to fix it. It can be healthy if it is well managed.
Unintentional loan – You didn’t realize that the shortcut was harmful. Often occurs with new tech or unclear requirements.
Environmental debt – Your tools, libraries, or framework become old. Even if your code is clean, it is sitting on a falling infrastructure.
Loan – The way you make software becomes inactive. Everyone is contributing to poor hands office, unclear documents, or weak testing pipelines.
Recognizing what kind of dealing with you helps you give priority. Not all loans need immediate repayment. But all this needs attention.
How does a technical loan go
As you might imagine, technical debt is manifest in many ways.
Sometimes it is deliberate. You trade. You know it’s a shortcut, and you plan to clean it later. It’s manageable – if you really clean it.
But most of the technical loans are not planned. It hides through decisions that feel small at that moment. A quick feature. A new fare code is not trained at the base. A speculation that changes the mid sprint. Over time, these small cracks are deeply dissolved.
Here is an easy example:
// Temporary workaround for product discounts
function applyDiscount(price, productType) {
if (productType === 'electronics') else if (productType === 'clothing') 0;
return price * (1 - discount);
else if (productType === 'books')
const discount = discountRates(productType) else
}
It began as a quick accuracy. But over time, new types of products are added to more exceptions.
Soon, you will have a base if-else Branches are fragile. The dangers of every change are broken. This is a technical loan.
The worst part? You may not take notice even after a year, when it takes hours to detect a problem in this logic. You are surprised, “How did it get so dirty?” Answer: A shortcut at a time.
The aforementioned example will be a better long -term approach -driven system or discount rolls engine.
// Config-driven discount logic
const discountRates = {
electronics: 0.10,
clothing: 0.20,
books: 0.05
};
function applyDiscount(price, productType) {
const discount = discountRates(productType) || 0;
return price * (1 - discount);
}
Why can a technical loan be dangerous
Technical debt slows down you. This is the most cost of it.
A feature that should take a day now takes a week. Easy changes break irrelevant things. Your team spends more time in fixing than the building.
But the real risk is deep. The technical loan is afraid to touch your code.
Engineers stop reflecting because “it’s a lot of danger.” You do not start to say new ideas because the system cannot handle them. The product gets hard. You stop innovating.
It also hurts your team. Developers do not like to work at the Dirt Code Base. It leads to burning. New fare struggle to get on the ship.
Instead of making your best engineers your time, you just do firefighting. Finally, people left. And your debt is left.
How to manage a technical loan
You can’t eliminate all technical loans. But you can manage it.
First, treat him as a real debt. Track it. Prefer it. Pay regularly.
Start writing it. Each time someone takes a shortcut, log it. You do not need a fancy tool – a joint doctor or Girar tag works well. Just make it visible.
Next, make time in your workflow to pay for it. Use 10-20 % of each sprint to improve the reflective or code base. Don’t wait for rewrite. Small, stable work increases.
Code reviews also help. Encourage your team to ask: “Is this shortcut?” If so, choose consciousness. Leave a clear comment. Note the trade. It is no longer a hidden price – it’s a famous.
And when you pay the debt, celebrate it. Make it part of your culture. The way you celebrate a feature shipping, admit that when your team improves the code base. It produces pride and property.
Knowing when the Refector is
You can’t fix all the debt together. So what kind of choice do you choose?
Look for symptoms of pain. If the file breaks every spirits, fix it. If it takes a day to test a part of the system, improve it. If the new fare is always caught in a module, clean it.
Pay attention to the code you often touch. There is no use to polish the dead feature. But if something is part of your basic flow, invest in it.
Also, listen to your team. Engineers know where the pain lives. If someone says, “This part frightens me”, take it seriously. Fear in the code base is a red flag.
When the debt becomes fatal
Sometimes, the debt gets so bad that small reforms do not save you. This system falls under its weight. Everything feels slow. It is not safe to change anything. At the same time when teams begin to talk about rewriting.
But rewriting are dangerous. They take time. They often lose hidden business logic. And if that is not done carefully, they can take the old loan into the new code.
If you need to rewrite, add it. Change the modules at a time. Add the test. Transfer data with care.
And don’t forget why the old system failed. If you do not fix the culture, the new system will also rot.
The final views
Technical debt is not evil. This is part of making software. But like a financial debt, it also needs discipline. You just can’t ignore it and hope it will go away.
Great products are not just well designed. They are well sustained. The teams behind them care about the quality – not only what users see, but the engineers live with every day.
So the next time you will say, “We’ll fix it later,” ask yourself: Will you do? Or are you just borrowing against the future?
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