The "Error establishing a database connection" I'm getting on this link is incredibly ironic.
You are confusing bad software with technical debt. Debts can be paid off. Wordpress can only be burned to the ground and never mentioned again.
Bad Code Isn’t Technical Debt, It’s an Unhedged Call Option
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Re: Bad Code Isn’t Technical Debt, It’s an Unhedged Call Option
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
My experience is the opposite. The simplest solution is harder and takes longer. I think easiest or quickest is what is really meant in this formulation, but rarely do either of these result in simplest. I start with the former and strive to iterate towards the latter, because the former starts cheaper but ends up more expensive in the long run. Simplification is an optimization.
Perhaps, but businesses are not run on the basis of the long run (unless you are in R&D mode for 10 years), they are one short run after the next.
I've found this not to be the case. If you write custom applications and they are solid, when it comes time to add a new feature, you can do it quickly and keep the customer happy. If you are riddled with technical debt, the cost of adding a small feature approaches the cost of having a competitor rewrite the whole application.
Re: Bad Code Isn’t Technical Debt, It’s an Unhedged Call Option
#23I think technical debt is a much better metaphor than the unhedged call option one. That's unnecessarily complex and worse, it's less accurate. The downside isn't unlimited as he suggests, there is a well defined limit, 0 sales.
I think the unhedged call is a better metaphor. The stuff you gain by writing sloppy code is not sales but saved development time. The potential downside is the development time spent debugging or updating the system. The lost development time is bounded by the cost of reimplementing the system correctly, which is theoretically infinite (assuming a non-zero chance of error each time you reimplement it). But in practi…
Regardless of which metaphor is a more accurate translation, "technical debt" is much more accessible. If you have to explain your turn of phrase, it's not going to catch on.
Re: Bad Code Isn’t Technical Debt, It’s an Unhedged Call Option
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps, but businesses are not run on the basis of the long run (unless you are in R&D mode for 10 years), they are one short run after the next.
I've found this not to be the case. If you write custom applications and they are solid, when it comes time to add a new feature, you can do it quickly and keep the customer happy. If you are riddled with technical debt, the cost of adding a small feature approaches the cost of having a competitor rewrite the whole application.
I'm not advocating taking on technical debt, just arguing that sometimes the anti technical debt crusade turns into premature optimization and unnecessary concept creep.
Re: Bad Code Isn’t Technical Debt, It’s an Unhedged Call Option
#25Cool! So the real question is, can I bundle a bunch of technical debt into a CDO and sell it to some rich sucker?