Avoid technical debt: a guide to preventive measures

> Key Takeaway: Technical debt arises from deliberate shortcuts and unconscious quality deficiencies in code.

Preventive measures: code reviews as a fixed part of every pull request, automated quality checks in the CI pipeline, regular refactoring sprints, and a definition of done that includes code quality.

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Avoid technical debt: A guide for preventive measures

Short: In the fast-paced world of [software development](/services/software development), the pressure to deliver quickly results is ubiquitous.

In the fast-paced world of [software development](/services/software development), the pressure to deliver quickly results is ubiquitous. This pressure often leads to compromises in code quality, which prove to be costly in the long term.

These compromises are referred to as technical debt – a metaphor that describes the long-term negative consequences of short-term short-term abbreviations. Similarly to financial debt, interest is also incurred in the case of technical debts which, in the form of increased maintenance costs, slowed development and rising costs, are charged.

But how can we avoid this debt trap from the outset? This article highlights the causes of technical guilt and introduces preventive measures to ensure sustainable and high-quality software development.

Understanding the causes of technical guilt

Short: To effectively avoid technical debt, it is crucial to know their causes.

To effectively avoid technical debt, it is crucial to know their causes. Rarely they arise from evil intentions, but are usually the result of balanced decisions under pressure. A profound understanding of these factors is the first step to be able to proactively counteract.

Time pressure and unrealistic deadlines

The most common driver for technical debt is the pressure to close projects quickly. Close schedules and unrealistic deadlines often force development teams to take shortcuts and to renounce good practices.

Instead of writing clean and well-structured code, fast, but suboptimal solutions are implemented that work short-term but lead to problems in the long term. These "Quick and Dirty" solutions are often difficult to wait and develop, making future adjustments more difficult and expensive.

Lack of documentation and knowledge transfer

An inadequate or outdated documentation is another important source of technical debt. If the knowledge of architecture, design and functionality of a software exists only in the minds of individual developers, it is lost as soon as they leave the team.

New team members have to work hard into the code, which leads to errors and inefficient development. Without a clear documentation, it is also difficult to keep an overview of decisions taken and their backgrounds, which makes the **Technical debt even more difficult.

Outdated technologies and lack of modernization

The technology landscape is rapidly developing.

If outdated technologies, frameworks or libraries are not regularly updated, vulnerabilities and compatibility problems arise.

Modernization is becoming more and more complex and riskier with time, as the gap to the current technology is growing steadily.

Keeping on obsolete Sy

References and further reading

Short: The following independent references complement the topics in this article:

The following independent references complement the topics in this article:

• Bitkom – German digital industry association
• German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)
• European Commission – Digital strategy
• MDN Web Docs (Mozilla)
• W3C – World Wide Web Consortium

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