{"id":11247,"date":"2025-03-08T20:34:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T15:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imensosoftware.com\/?p=11247"},"modified":"2025-06-12T14:15:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T08:45:48","slug":"how-to-reduce-technical-debt-top-strategies-for-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imensosoftware.com\/blog\/how-to-reduce-technical-debt-strategies-for-startups\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Reduce Technical Debt in Rapidly Growing Startups?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps nothing weighs down a flourishing startup like technical debt. Instead of making technology an engine for growth, it makes it a burden. Delivering a quick solution that runs on a less efficient code is in some cases a necessary trade-off to surge ahead in the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, if these types of transactions occur repeatedly, it creates technical debt. Technical debt or the accumulation of shortcuts and compromises in software systems, is an all-pervasive problem across industries. It has disastrous consequences ranging from system failures and security lapses to impeded innovation. The<\/span> Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/a> reports technical debt as the cause of 13,000 canceled Southwest Airlines flights during the 2022 holiday season. It was also responsible for multiple sophisticated cyberattacks on Google, Apple, and Microsoft.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forrester\u2019s Q2 2024 Tech Pulse Survey reveals that an alarming<\/span> 30% of US IT decision-makers<\/span><\/a> struggle with high or critical debt. This growing burden competes with the ability of organizations to pursue new initiatives. Technical debt adversely impacts project delivery and operational resiliency<\/a>. To stay on the growth track, businesses need to take a proactive approach to reduce technical debt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s explore some proven ways to reduce technical debt and thrive in the dynamic market.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Is Technical Debt?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Programmer Ward Cunningham, who co-authored the Agile Manifesto and created Wiki, coined the term ‘technical debt’ in a<\/span> 1992 article<\/span><\/a>. According to him, while a company may save money in the short run by shipping past versions of code or software, the long-term \u201cinterest\u201d from the tech debt naturally accumulates. This, in turn, makes the earlier problem more costly to fix over time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The simplest way to understand technical debt is by comparing it to financial debt since both are similar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Startups take on technical debt for reasons similar to why they take on financial debt: We need something urgently that we don\u2019t have the \u201ccash\u201d to pay for in entirety. So we borrow money with software. This translates to making sub-optimal coding or design decisions to get what we want or need into production in significantly less time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Technical debt, also called code debt or design debt, is a term used in software development<\/a>. It describes the cost of additional rework caused by initially opting for a quicker delivery over clean, efficient code that would have taken much longer. At its core, technical debt means the compromises made in project speed over following the best coding practices. This leads to the accumulation of \u2018debt\u2019 that must eventually be \u2018repaid\u2019 with interest, in the form of money, time, and resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Technical Debt Examples<\/b><\/h2>\n

A famous example of technical debt is the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem. Developers in the 1960s and 70s chose to store dates as two digits to save memory. So, instead of ‘1973’ the dates were stored as ’73.’ This practice went on even after memory prices declined. The programs became embedded into operational businesses and were used for a long time.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the arrival of the year 2000, businesses all over realized the fallacy in date calculations, which in turn, led to a rushed (and costly) attempt to clean up. The average cost of addressing the Y2K problem is approximated to<\/span> $100 million!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Examples of technical debt are also visible beyond the realm of software. In cybersecurity, for example, it is a practice to grant file permissions to roles within the company instead of individuals. For example, an administrative assistant gets approval to access sensitive documents, albeit temporarily. If the IT organization fails to revoke the access later, the individual has permanent access to sensitive documents. The account then becomes highly vulnerable to a security or data breach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top 5 Causes of Technical Debt<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Knowing the <\/span>causes of technical debt<\/b> is important to learn how to avoid them in your own development projects. When you are aware of why technical debt is created and how it impacts teams, you\u2019ll have all the necessary knowledge to shield yourself from falling into this costly trap.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lack Of Technical Knowledge<\/b><\/h3>\n

In the fast-evolving technical landscape, businesses face a lack of technical knowledge. It prevents the top management and staff from understanding the complexities related to code debt. Most companies don’t invest in technical training and educating their staff on emerging technologies<\/a>. This, in turn, leads to costly mistakes and missed opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unexpected Technical Difficulties and Changes In Requirements<\/b><\/h3>\n

Sudden and unexpected technical difficulties and changes in requirements are another major cause of technical debt. That is why it is so important to factor in this debt to reduce the development costs<\/a> in the initial stages of project planning. This will prevent debt accumulation due to the addition of more functionalities and uncertainties.<\/span><\/p>\n

When software developers don’t address technical concerns in the beginning and plan for the worst-case scenarios, the occurrence of unexpected technical challenges or shifts in requirements throughout the project course can lead to technical debt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tight Timelines<\/b><\/h3>\n

Tight software development timelines<\/a> force developers to make trade-offs between perfection and consistency at the time of design. These technical problems accumulate over time and can become difficult or, in some cases, impossible to rectify. It can be more costly to fix technical debt arising from rushed development undertaken with the goal of simply meeting a timeline.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rushed Development Cycles<\/b><\/h3>\n

Technical debt occurring from technical shortcuts during the software development process is a major problem in rushed development cycles. The rush to finish projects quickly can lead to technical debt that causes the development of poor-functioning applications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Organizations not taking the time upfront to develop project plans and thoroughly testing solutions throughout the software development lifecycle<\/a> inevitably waste time addressing technical issues later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Releasing Without Testing<\/b><\/h3>\n

Releasing code without adequately testing is another cause of technical debt. Developers make quick fixes to a product’s codebase. This results in sloppy coding. It also makes it more challenging to implement future improvements. Technical issues accumulate due to an absence of thorough testing at the time of the release process. It’s always important to follow the best practices for testing and deployment<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

How Can Technical Debt Be Reduced?<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Organizations grappling with technical debt are unable to scale, innovate, and adapt to the evolving markets. So <\/span>how to reduce technical debt? <\/b>Here are some key actions to manage technical debt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Measure Your Technical Debt<\/b><\/h3>\n

According to a recent<\/span> study<\/span><\/a>, only 7.2% of organizations measure and track technical debt. Inevitably, these are the very organizations that achieve 50% quicker service delivery times to the business, along with multiple other benefits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Organizations can the metrics below to measure technical debt through a more objective lens.<\/span><\/p>\n