Sally Goble - How To Get Out Of (Technical) Debt! (Turing Fest 2022)

Sally will discuss what technical debt looks like, and how easy it is to get into debt in the first place. Then she’ll put a plan into action, including Facing up to all the debt you are in; Deciding How Much You Can Pay Back Each Month; Getting help when you need it; Being Diligent Moving Forward

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Transcript

1. @sallygoble How to get out of (technical) debt TuringFest 2022
2. @sallygoble In debt • What technical debt is, and why it occurs • Some examples of technical debt • How do you know you’re in debt? Out of debt • How to pay back your debt • Managing repayments • How to avoid accumulating more debt by creating good habits
3. @sallygoble Me
4. @sallygoble Accurx @sallygoble
5. @sallygoble In debt What is Technical Debt Some examples of Technical Debt How do you know you’re in debt?
6. @sallygoble In debt What is Technical Debt?
7. @sallygoble “Technical Debt is the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy (limited) solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer”
8. @sallygoble Even faster pace means more debt!
9. @sallygoble Fast ≠ Bad
10. @sallygoble In debt What is Technical Debt Some examples of Tech Debt
11. @sallygoble Code or Application debt
12. @sallygoble Design or Architecture debt
13. @sallygoble Testing debt
14. @sallygoble Tooling debt
15. @sallygoble Reliability or performance debt
16. @sallygoble Knowledge / skills debt
17. @sallygoble In debt What is Technical Debt Some examples of Tech Debt How do you know you’re in debt?
18. @sallygoble “One unit test took me three days to write…” Leon
19. @sallygoble “We don’t have time to address technical debt so I add two days on for each feature so I can do some refactoring as I go along” Anna
20. @sallygoble “Product Y stopped working when the team shipped a new feature in Product X!” Kristina
21. @sallygoble
22. @sallygoble Technical debt is a business problem 
 not a tech problem!
23. @sallygoble • Speed of delivery slows down • Your reputation is tarnished • You experience attrition
24. @sallygoble Out of debt How to pay back your debt Managing repayments How to avoid accumulating debt
25. @sallygoble Out of debt How to pay back your debt
26. @sallygoble Face up to all 
 the debt you’re in
27. @sallygoble Technical Debt Investment Technical Debt
28. @sallygoble Out of debt How to pay back your debt Managing repayments
29. @sallygoble Manage your repayments • One off repayments • Dedicated teams • Ad hoc repayments • Sustainable repayments
30. @sallygoble One off 
 repayments:
 AKA 
 The debt bash • We’re all in it together! • Cross team collaboration • Can get a fair bit done • Can only do it sporadically
31. @sallygoble Dedicated 
 teams • Doesn’t interrupt delivery • No context switching • Can deliver bigger pieces of TI • Nobody wants to do it! • Uses your senior engineers • Engineers don’t get exposure to the pain points • Contractors don’t know the of the code
32. @sallygoble Ad hoc
 repayments • Flexible and efficient • Cross team collaboration • Product delivery trumps all • Schedule clashes • Lack of transparency • Some tech debt too big
33. @sallygoble Sustainable 
 repayments
34. @sallygoble • Got buy in! • Embedded in teams • Empowered teams to deliver • Celebrated success
35. @sallygoble Get buy in!
36. @sallygoble Convinced our senior leadership • Described problem in business language • Showed the scale of the problem
37. @sallygoble • Engineering time budget Agreed how much time
38. @sallygoble Bring PMs on the journey • Reduced product scope to 90% • Won’t overload critical projects
39. @sallygoble Embed
40. @sallygoble TI ‘Cycle’ Planning • Get the right people in the room • Prioritise the work • Size a cycle’s worth of work
41. @sallygoble Matching TI to teams, consider • Urgent delivery deadlines • Skill in teams • Alignment with teams • Development goals/interests • (Sense checked with PMs/TLs!)
42. @sallygoble Empower
43. @sallygoble Trust your teams
44. @sallygoble Hold them to account
45. @sallygoble Celebrate!
46. @sallygoble Bring Investment out of the shadows • Celebrating visibly
47. @sallygoble Has it worked? • We’ve managed to get through a fair bit • Teams embraced it! • Engineers don’t feel guilty • Transparency • Career progression • Feels a bit top down • Mid cycle moves
48. @sallygoble Out of debt How to pay back your debt Managing repayments How to avoid accumulating debt
49. @sallygoble Good habits • Be aware of compromises • Document your trade offs • Use lean UX methods • Invest in knowledge • Upgrade technologies • Keep updating your TI list! • Reward continuous improvement
50. @sallygoble Conclusion • What technical debt is, and how it is inevitable • Some examples of technical debt • Visible manifestations of tech debt and how to spot it • Business impact of tech debt (slow to market, unreliable, attrition) • Sustainable ways of reducing it (backlog, incorporate in teams, in SLDC)
51. @sallygoble Treat technical debt as a business problem not a tech problem
52. @sallygoble Thank you! 
 (we’re hiring)
53. Resources https://martinfowler.com/bliki/TechnicalDebt.html https://martinfowler.com/bliki/TechnicalDebtQuadrant.html http://wiki.c2.com/?TechnicalDebt https://medium.com/@learnstuff.io/broken-window-theory-in-software-development-bef627a1ce99 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950584917305098 https://tech.ticketmaster.com/2015/06/30/what-ticketmaster-is-doing-about-technical-debt/ https://philippe.kruchten.com/2017/02/14/concrete-things-you-can-do-about-your-technical-debt/