a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty

There no such thing as “good” technical debt

Technical debt always harms productivity and system stability. Ignoring it leads to inefficiency and risk, making it essential to address rather than accept or normalise.

Published on
1 minute read
Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/lLNjkL_zGQa

Let’s put this to rest: there’s no such thing as “good” technical debt.

If new engineers take weeks to become productive, your system is unreadable. If every change introduces faults, your architecture is fragile. If you’re manually handling tasks that should be automated, you’re building inefficiency into your process.

And here’s the kicker—technical debt doesn’t accumulate linearly. It builds up silently, then one day, it collapses your ability to deliver.

Microsoft learned this the hard way with TFS. They were shipping 24 features per year across a team of 600 engineers. The solution? A complete overhaul in how they worked. They moved to 3-week Sprints, embraced transparency, and started paying back their technical debt.

Stop normalising dysfunction. There’s no “acceptable level” of technical debt—only risk you haven’t accounted for yet.

What’s stopping your team from tackling technical debt head-on?

Also published on: LinkedIn
Technical Debt Software Development Technical Mastery Engineering Practices
Subscribe

Related Blog

Related videos

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Big Data for Humans Logo

Big Data for Humans

Slaughter and May Logo

Slaughter and May

SuperControl Logo

SuperControl

CR2

Sage Logo

Sage

Lockheed Martin Logo

Lockheed Martin

Qualco Logo

Qualco

Emerson Process Management Logo

Emerson Process Management

Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd Logo

Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd

Trayport Logo

Trayport

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd. Logo

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.

Microsoft Logo

Microsoft

Freadom Logo

Freadom

Philips Logo

Philips

DFDS Logo

DFDS

Schlumberger Logo

Schlumberger

Graham & Brown Logo

Graham & Brown

Ericson Logo

Ericson

Washington Department of Transport Logo

Washington Department of Transport

New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo

New Hampshire Supreme Court

Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo

Washington Department of Enterprise Services

Royal Air Force Logo

Royal Air Force

Ghana Police Service Logo

Ghana Police Service

Workday Logo

Workday

NIT A/S

Kongsberg Maritime Logo

Kongsberg Maritime

Akaditi Logo

Akaditi

Sage Logo

Sage

Philips Logo

Philips