
How technical debt impacts your organization
Technical debt is in some ways similar to financial debt, it accumulates interest over time and can become a massive burden if left unchecked. And this is true for large corporations as well as scrappy startups.
In the almost 10 years we have been building custom software solutions and maintaining software, we’ve seen how unmanaged technical debt can paralyze businesses, turning simple feature updates into complex engineering challenges.
But there’s good news: with the right partner and approach, technical debt can be effectively managed and reduced.
What is technical debt?
Technical debt isn’t just about problematic code. It’s the cumulative cost of choosing quick solutions over better approaches. Like taking a shortcut while hiking, it might save time initially but could lead to more difficult terrain ahead. Often, internal teams working under pressure make these trade-offs knowingly, hoping to address them later – but “later” rarely comes.
Some common sources of technical debt include:
- Pressure to meet tight deadlines
- Lack of documentation
- Outdated dependencies
- Insufficient testing
- Architectural decisions that don’t scale
- Quick fixes that become permanent solutions
- Limited expertise in new technologies
- Resource constraints within internal teams
The real business impact
When technical debt accumulates, it affects your entire organization. In our experience some of the major negative aspects are:
- Decreased development speed: Teams spend more time working around existing problems than building new features
- Higher maintenance costs: Simple updates require extensive testing and often break unexpected parts of the system
- Increased bug risk: As systems become more complex, the likelihood of introducing bugs grows exponentially
- Employee turnover: Developers become frustrated working with problematic codebases and leave
- Missed business opportunities: When systems are rigid, adapting to market changes becomes nearly impossible
- Escalating costs: The longer technical debt remains unaddressed, the more expensive it becomes to fix
Why choose an outside partner?
Fresh perspective and expertise
Internal teams can become too close to the codebase, accepting workarounds as normal. An outside partner can bring comprehensive value on a variety of levels because they are not connected in any way to your software. As a result, they can provide an objective assessment of your technical debt.
And this an important first step. We all know that in order to solve a problem you have to identify it correctly and what better way than brining it a fresh new set of eyes.
Cost efficiency
External partners usually maintain multiple systems for different clients, giving them deep experience in spotting and resolving issues quickly. This specialized knowledge means they can often fix problems faster or in a more cost effective way as opposed to an internal team that is trying to balance the development of new features alongside maintaining the current software.
Consistent coverage and reduced business risk
Outside partners can provide 24/7 monitoring and support without the challenges of staffing internal shifts. When employees leave or take vacation, there’s no gap in system maintenance. The partner firm handles staffing, training, and coverage, reducing your business continuity risks.
This is especially useful when your company is only located in one time zone or only does business from one headquarter.
Focus on core business objectives
By delegating software maintenance to outside specialists, your internal technology team can concentrate on strategic initiatives and innovation that directly drive business growth. Rather than getting bogged down with routine updates and troubleshooting, they can develop new features and capabilities that create competitive advantages. After all they are the ones most familiar with the product as well as what the market wants.
The clear division of responsibilities also helps prevent maintenance tasks from being deprioritized when other projects arise.
How can QTeam help?
Technical debt is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Working with a software development partner provides the expertise, resources, and objective perspective needed to effectively manage and reduce technical debt while maintaining development velocity.
The key is not to eliminate technical debt entirely but to make conscious decisions about when to take it on and how to manage it effectively. With our help, you can transform technical debt from a burden into a manageable aspect of your software development lifecycle.
At QTeam Software Solutions, we’ve worked with start-ups and large organizations to develop custom software, maintain their software or help them successfully manage their technical debt. And we can do the same for you. But don’t just take our word for it, check out what our clients have to say.
Book a free consulting session with us, and let’s talk about software.
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