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| Photo by Lespinas Xavier on Unsplash |
The subject of information technology Technical Debt has been on my mind this past week.
For non-IT folks, Technical Debt accumulates...sometimes by
actions...sometimes by inaction...or simply by choices made...or choices deferred. And, like monetary debt - it can accumulate "interest".
While things on the surface may appear fine - underneath, there can be growing instability - which might be likened to rot, or rust - that can threaten the integrity of a system.
Technical Debt can also be likened to a Gordian Knot type problem - and as time goes by - becomes increasingly more entangled - as layers of changes are made - and as the number of dependencies grow.
It
can arise from several possible sources (and quite often, from a
combination of several at the same time). Usually, the sources of
Technical Debt can be traced to one or more of the following:
- The lack of a proper architecture foundation
- The lack of proper tooling
- The lack of proper solution components
- The lack of continued/proper maintenance
- The lack of skill/knowledge in the personnel engaged in the work to design/maintain a system
- The lack of commitment and funding to perform ongoing maintenance/refurbishment
Technical Debt can have severe consequences:
- Reduced system reliability, availability, scalability.
- Significantly increased system complexity
- Significantly increased system maintenance costs
- Inability to respond with agility to changing requirements
- Customer dissatisfaction
- System failure
- Business failure
There are some notable parallels between the concept of Technical Debt - and in the world of sailing, John Vigor's Black Box Theory.
John is well known within the global sailing community:
"John is the author of 12 boating books and scores of articles in boating magazines on three continents, including Cruising World, Sail, and Good Old Boat. His career as a newspaperman spanned nearly 40 years in America, England, and South Africa. He has written more than 5,000 humor columns and more than 2,000 editorials for metro daily newspapers."
In an article in the July/August 1999 edition of Good Old Boat magazine, John describes his Black Box Theory - which he derived from a talk given by another sailor at the Durban Yacht Club, almost 30 years earlier.
The speaker mentioned the four essentials for a successful yacht voyage as:
- A well found-found ship
- A good crew
- Adequate preparation and maintenance
- Seamanship
That speaker also referred to something that he called "The Fifth Essential" - but would not name it directly.
Over time, John noted a similar theme in the talks given by other world famous sailors (such as Bernard Moitessier, Jean Gau, and Eric Hiscock) - and he distilled the idea into his "Black Box Theory":
",,,every boat possesses an imaginary black box, a sort of bank account in which points are kept. In times of emergency, when there is nothing more to be done in the way of sensible seamanship, the points from your black box can buy your way out of trouble. You have no control over how the points are spent, of course; they withdraw themselves when the time is appropriate. You do have control over how the points get into the box: you earn them. For every seamanlike act you perform, you get a point in the black box."
As I reflect on the innumerable systems around the world that suffer from growing levels of Technical Debt - I cannot help but wonder - how many points are left in their black boxes?
And, as I work to prepare my own sailboat for future voyaging - I wonder - how many points are on deposit in my own vessel's black box?
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| photo by Kelvin D. Meeks |
I'll leave you with a popular toast from the world of sailing:
"Fair Winds and Following Seas"
Additional suggested articles:
- Paying Back Technical Debt, by Kyle Brown, IBM Fellow
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