Slowing down to Speed up: Agile & Technical Debt - SGPRG 2015
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The document discusses technical debt in software development, defining it as the consequences of shortcuts taken during projects which can lead to financial burdens and reduced productivity. It highlights the causes of technical debt, methods for detecting it, and strategies for managing and alleviating debt within agile practices. The author emphasizes the importance of maintaining a sustainable pace in development to enhance agility and avoid accumulating further debt.
![The Cost of Debt
Average technical debt per line of code (over
$1 million per application) [CAST Research Labs, 2013]$3.61
Of an application cost throughout its life cycle
is spent on maintenance and support [Gartner, 2013]50%](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/agileandtechnicaldebt-sgprg-prague-2015-160130211237/85/Slowing-down-to-Speed-up-Agile-Technical-Debt-SGPRG-2015-9-320.jpg)
Slowing down to Speed up: Agile & Technical Debt - SGPRG 2015
- 1. Taghi Paksima Slowing down to Speed up: Agile & Technical Debt
- 2. About me! In IT/Software industry since late 90s Microsoft, Software Engineer, 2008-14 hetras GmbH, Lead Developer, since 2014 Agile practitioner since 2008, avid Agile evangelist since 2013 Founder, Organiser: ‘Agile Munich’
- 3. What is Technical Debt? “Technical debt is a metaphor referring to the consequences of corners being cut throughout a software project or poor software architecture and software development within a codebase.” Wikipedia “Both the intentional and un-intentional violations of good architectural and coding practices.” Steve McConnell All the mess you leave behind when you think you are done
- 4. Dire Consequences Technical Debt: Creates financial burden Kills productivity Makes maintenance difficult Or can even bring a project to a halt
- 5. Cost of Debt Principal: The actual cost of fixing the shortcuts taken Interest: The recurring cost of delaying the payback
- 6. Technical Debt: The Causes Business pressure Lack of tests Agile misconception Lack of processes & engineering practices Lack of knowledge Lack of planning Lack of collaboration/communication Parallel development Delayed refactoring But, debt is inevitable
- 7. Technical Debt: The Reasons Technical Debt Quadrant: Martin Fowler
- 8. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Conscious decision to facilitate achieving a goal, but you’d better have a payback plan! Tech debt increases entropy: That’s what keeps the CTO awake at nights Regression of the Tribal Culture: From code churn to developer churn
- 9. The Cost of Debt Average technical debt per line of code (over $1 million per application) [CAST Research Labs, 2013]$3.61 Of an application cost throughout its life cycle is spent on maintenance and support [Gartner, 2013]50%
- 10. Detecting Debt Low Test Coverage Code Quality Metrics Defect Density Code Smell Code Churn Declining Velocity* Aging software without refactoring
- 11. Detecting Debt: Tools Code coverage reports Static Analysis Tools SQALE (SonarQube)
- 12. Definition of Done Define what Done actually means for your team Code Complete Test Complete Anything deferred, as against DoD = Tech Debt Train the POs on the implications of debt Teams self-organise to manage Tech Debt DoD will be evolving over time
- 13. Almost Done!
- 14. Make Debt Visible Make sure tech debt is tracked in project backlogs Highlight tech debt state in Sprint reviews, management reports, etc Visually represent debt metrics to the engineering teams
- 15. Technical Debt Metrics Debt ratio per iteration Debt resolution rate SQALE Indices KISSMetricsProMetrics
- 16. Tackling Technical Debt Sweep it under the carpet! Refactor/Pay-as-you-go Buffering: Allocate part of team capacity in each iteration to reducing technical debt Debt Bash: Dedicate one iteration to fixing technical debt Dedicated Team: One team focuses on a backlog of top priority debt items
- 17. Debt Relief Recipe Define, detect & track technical debt: Starting from DoD Make debt visible: Communicate technical debt state regularly Minimise new debt: quality gates throughout ALM Train & empower teams to determine their pay back strategy
- 18. Agile vs. Fast Agility in Agile is more about sustainable pace and lateral nimbleness than hasty development. From Agile Principles: Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. Teams should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. Slow down to Speed up
- 19. I’m looking forward to your feedback and questions Taghi Paksima http://linkedin.com/in/paksima http://agilemunich.org/ taghi@agilemunich.org @TaghiPaksima