Ward Cunningham invented the phrase “technical debt” in 1992 to describe how corporations evaluate short-term advantages against a software product’s long-term viability. Although business dynamics have changed much since then, the metaphor remains valid. Favoring a short-term strategy to achieve a faster time to market is not always a negative thing, as long as the company has a backup plan in place to produce well-designed code that will make future modifications and advancements easier.
Reworking is tough for startups, though, because deadlines and a lack of resources restrict engineers from delivering clean and precise code. Startups prioritize short-term goals and place a greater emphasis on adding features in order to meet milestones, sign up marquee clients, or acquire capital. This back-and-forth on the roadmap, as well as a disdain for the long-term, leads to tech debt.
I have worked with over 25 startups and learned a lot from them as they progressed from the early stages to the growth stage. I have discovered that following simple ground principles makes avoiding tech debts much easier. To avoid tech debt, entrepreneurs should follow these four rules:
Allow no more than three months for specialized implementations. Startups frequently try to adapt their products to match the needs of their most important consumers. This can result in two products: a generalized version and a customer-specific version, which can be difficult to merge over time. Companies start cutting corners to keep on track, which destabilizes the product. I have seen engineering teams spend a year working on customization and then spend another 20 months merging and stabilizing the core product.
Any software product’s foundation is directly accountable for greater scaling and maintainability. Before raising the next round of investment, most startups have an 18-24 month runway. They risk losing a quarter to stability if they rework to generalize features.
What to do: When teams work on special features for longer than the period allotted, reintegrating them into the core product becomes difficult. It is preferable to admit right away that items cannot tailor to each individual customer. Startups should think about the platform and future maintainability from the start.
