Get out of technical debt now

By Andy Lester (‎petdance‎) from Chicago.pm
Date: Saturday February 16, 2008 15:25
Duration: 50 minutes
Target audience: Any

Technical debt is stuff that gets left behind during a project: postponed documentation, unwritten tests, unfixed "TODO" notes throughout your code, and other workarounds you promise to do to "later". Like financial debt, unpaid technical debt accrues interest until you go bankrupt. Software projects start out fun, but often accumulate technical debt that drains project resources and makes developers miserable.

In this session, you'll learn:

* How to work debt payments into projects, and show the value of this unseen work
* How to tell good debt from bad
* Where to start correcting a debt-ridden project
* Automated tools for measuring and tracking your debt level
* Habits to develop to keep debt to a minimum
* How to keep the quest for perfection from causing paralysis