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Quantifying Tech Debt

Anthony Spring
September 15, 2015

Quantifying Tech Debt

2015 DevOps Days Boston - Lightning talk

Anthony Spring

September 15, 2015
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  1. Definitions Quantification - “express or measure the quantity of.” Technical

    debt - “work that needs to be done before a particular job can be considered complete or proper.”* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt
  2. Googling: Types of Debt Architectural changes Design considerations Hard coded

    values Lack of documentation Redundant code Redundant code Test coverage
  3. Quantification: Goals Ease of use Minimal friction — Getting developer

    buy in is hard Ability for developers to breadcrumb notes related to the perceived technical debt. Reporting —automatically generated per project
  4. Jenkins Task Scanner Plugin Added three new task tags: YELLOW,

    ORANGE, RED Each color provides a rough estimate as to the time/ complexity of the technical debt. Allows for developer to add their own comments and considerations regarding the debt and paying it off. Not qualitative. We were already using it!
  5. How do we use it? Review new debt Is it

    necessary? Is it classified correctly? Review old debt — was is fully paid off? Team OKR to pay off a specific amount of debt per quarter.