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Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders

Compiler - Do we want a world without technical debt?

Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders

Noah Labhart - Startup Founder & CTO

Tech News, News, Business, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Careers

4.6216 Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2021

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hey guys, I'm back again to share another fantastic episode of the Compiler podcast, from Red Hat. As a reminder Compiler is a show hosted by tech veterans, discussing tech topics - big, strange and small. On this particular episode - which is episode 4 - the team dives into the topic of technical debt, by first asking the question - what the heck is it? Its starts quite humorous, with the hosts slinging thoughts about financial debt and trying to bridge the gap there. There definition comes down to this - technical debt is the cost of delaying necessary work on a project or platform, so that you can hit your milestones on time. Essentially, the cost of delivering new features as a priority over bug fixes or maintenance of a platform. I think this is pretty accurate, but incomplete view of technical debt. I'd like to add my 2 cents to the definition. In my view, technical debt can also be inferior approach or framework decisions early on in the life of a piece of software, that you plan to uplevel, change or completely replace in the future. In the startup world, I find this to be the more commonly occurring form of technical debt, with the former definition occurring for more mature software solutions. At any rate, this was a great discussion on technical debt. Have a listen to Episode 4, titled "Do we want a world without technical debt." Be sure and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast catcher. I'll make sure and add a link to the show notes as well. And as always... Enjoy. Our Sponsors: * Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.com * Check out Red Hat: https://www.redhat.com * Check out Vanta: https://vanta.com/CODESTORY Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/code-story/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey guys, I'm back again to share another fantastic episode of the Compiler podcast from Red Hat.

0:06.8

As a reminder, Compiler is a show hosted by tech veterans discussing tech topics.

0:11.9

On this particular episode, which is episode four, the team dives into the topic of technical debt by first asking the question, what the heck is technical debt? It starts quite

0:22.4

humorous with the host slinging thoughts about financial debt and trying to bridge the gap there.

0:27.6

Their definition comes down to this. Technical debt is the cost of delaying necessary work

0:32.7

on a project or platform so that you can hit your milestone on time. Essentially, the cost of delivering

0:39.2

new features as a priority over bug fixes or maintenance of a platform. I think this is pretty

0:44.6

accurate, but I also feel it's an incomplete view of technical debt. I'd like to add my two cents

0:50.7

to the definition. In my view, technical debt can also be inferior approaches or

0:56.3

framework decisions early on in the life of a piece of software, that you plan to uplevel, change,

1:01.7

or completely replace in the future. An example would be using two different point solutions

1:07.1

or SaaS solutions and then hooking them together with Zapier. It may not be the most

1:11.2

robust solution that you could create and code yourself, but maybe it works for the short term.

1:17.0

And you plan to pay that technical debt later. You plan to replace that system with essentially

1:22.9

a custom-built system once you've proven your model. So in the startup world, I find this to be the more commonly occurring form of technical

1:30.8

debt, with the former definition occurring for more mature software solutions.

1:35.9

At any rate, this was a great discussion on technical debt.

1:39.6

Have a listen to episode four titled, Do we want a world without technical debt?

1:44.5

And as always, enjoy.

1:49.8

Brent, hello.

1:51.3

Hi.

1:52.2

I have something to ask you.

...

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