Jon Thornton speaking at LeadDev New York 2023

"Learn how to leverage tech debt as a tool for success in building innovative products, by intentionally taking shortcuts and prioritizing simplicity, while avoiding pitfalls and biases."

Key takeaways

Tech debt is a natural part of innovation, and acknowledging uncertainty can help you make better decisions.
Instead of trying to build everything at once, intentionally build something that can be thrown away to save time.
Good tech debt can be a deliberate choice to speed up development and provide a temporary solution, paying it back when needed.
Be aware of your own biases and try to acknowledge when you don’t know something.
Stop seeing requirements as binary and instead view them as something that can be iterated and adjusted.
Technical debt is a tool, and using it intentionally can help you build a better product.
Good tech debt is when you take shortcuts now and pay for it later, but not all shortcuts are equal.
To avoid turning tech debt into bad debt, prioritize building a solid foundation and iterate frequently.
Deliberately building something simple and easy to change can help you test assumptions and gain confidence in your product.
Sometimes, the simplest thing to build is to start with the smallest version of your product and add more complexity later.
Don’t try to solve all problems at once, focus on solving the most important ones and iteratively add more complexity.
Avoid hard-coding and try to limit the number of people who update critical components.
Take on a “you aren’t going to need it” (YAGNI) mentality and focus on the simplest solution.
When planning a project, prioritize the most important things and estimate how long they will take, leaving some buffer time for uncertainty.
Pay attention to your time, and when you’re running out of it, look for ways to simplify or shortcut.

Jon Thornton speaking at LeadDev New York 2023

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