failed and successful stories with technical debt

Failed and successful stories with Technical Debt

Antonio Cobo @Mind_of_AC

“Technical debt is a concept in software development that reflects the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer.” - Wikipedia



but also…

A bad code review process (or a non existing one) will generate unconsciously Technical Debt


but also…


Who am I?

Senior Agile Delivery Consultant

Software developer2000

2017


Who am I?

Java DeveloperHead of Backend DevelopmentTechnical Project ManagerProject ManagerAgile Project ManagerScrum MasterAgile Delivery ConsultantSenior Agile Delivery Consultant

IT Manager

Software developer2000

2017


What’s the accent?


Warning!


Warning!

https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/medium/1/darth-vader-watercolor-olga-shvartsur-transparent.png


Prelude


Misunderstanding


http://www.brainlesstales.com/2009-07-06/bowling-misunderstanding

Misunderstanding

What Business think


What Devs think


Explain technical debt using business words




Impact on our customers



Impact on our customers Impact on our brand


Chapter 1: The bad teacher


Situation:

• Junior Developer• Big company• “Senior” Developer with no real experience• Fixed Price contract• Save as much money as you can mentality


Bad team work


Bad team workNot teaching good practices


Bad team workNot teaching good practicesNot making the junior developer to think


Bad team workNot teaching good practicesNot making the junior developer to thinkIf the original class used as a model is poorly written


Chapter 2: The sellotape fix


Situation:

• Extremely optimistic deadline• Development manager asked to be “hands on”• We MUST deliver something tomorrow• After helping the team, it’s late and DM is alone


Chapter 3: The Outlaw


Situation:

• Developer finding Tech Debt• Willing to correct it• Refactoring a small part…• Without telling anyone


https://blog.frankel.ch/dont-talk-about-refactoring-club/


Situation:

• Developer finding Tech Debt• Willing to correct it• Refactoring a small part…• Without telling anyone


Situation:

• Developer finding Tech Debt• Willing to correct it• Refactoring a small part… • becoming bigger and bigger and bigger…• Without telling anyone


Situation:

• Developer finding Tech Debt• Willing to correct it• Discuss with the Team• Refactor


Chapter 4: The good team


Situation:

• Seven senior developers + PO• Long term product development• Some intermediate tight deadlines• Second retrospective and Tech Debt is here!

Added technical debt as new issue type in the backlog



Technical debt tickets were prioritised alongside the stories and tasks


Good team work


Good team workCommunication between devs and PO


Good team workCommunication between devs and POManage to reduce the technical debt fast after its creation


Chapter 5: It’s a trap!


Evil Team Member


Evil Product Owner


Chapter 6: Avoiding the trap


Scenario: Evil Team Member

working agreements


We agreed to dedicate a % of time to repay your debt on each sprint


We reviewed that % on every retrospective


Show improvements in the demo



Chapter 7: The storyteller


Scenario: Evil Product Owner


Make it a story!


“Improve how we handle DB concurrent connections”


“Improve how we handle DB concurrent connections”

As a Head of Product I want to enable special sales events in our website (ie. Black Friday) so that we can increase our revenue


Epilogue

Scout Camp Rule

Leave the code you touch cleaner than the way you found it!


CODE REVIEW

Never approve added technical debt! Challenge and suggest improvements while reviewing



https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Communication-Tips/170778-2.html

Communication, communication, communication!


…and they lived happily ever after.

THE END

failed and successful stories with technical debt

Presentations & Public Speaking