How to Manage Technical Debt: A Real-World Guide

Technical debt is one of those terms you hear thrown around in every software meeting. For most teams, it’s both a fact of life and a source of frustration. But what exactly is technical debt? Why does it happen, and how do you keep it from taking over your project, or your entire company? Here’s a practical, human guide from the trenches, based on real experience.

Technical debt simply means the cost of making fast or easy technical choices today that you’ll need to “pay back” by fixing or improving things later. Sometimes you cut corners to hit a deadline or prove a concept. Sometimes you inherit old systems that were never updated. Over time, these shortcuts add up and start slowing your team down.

Think of it like building a house: You can skip inspections or use cheaper materials to finish faster, but those decisions will eventually catch up with you, often when you least expect it.



Why does technical debt matter?

Because it creates real costs:
- New features take longer to build.
- Bugs become harder to track down.
- Onboarding new developers gets painful.
- Eventually, you risk the stability and quality of your product.


No company is immune. Even top engineering teams deal with technical debt. The key is how you handle it.

Not every bug can be fixed right away. Small, non-critical issues might be postponed to “later.” But if you never circle back, these small bugs add up and may mask bigger problems.

If you’re a developer, you’ve seen this firsthand. If you’re a business leader, you might notice things like:
- Projects are missing deadlines for no clear reason.
- Teams are hesitant to change or add features.
- Increasing time spent fixing issues instead of building value.

In practice, technical debt often means “We can’t move fast because the foundation isn’t solid.”

Let’s be honest: technical debt isn’t always a sign of bad engineering. It’s a natural part of building software. Here are some reasons it happens:
- Deadlines and Pressure:
Sometimes business needs outweigh technical perfection. If you need to launch, you launch.
- Changing Requirements:
No project plan survives first contact with users. As needs change, older decisions may no longer be suitable.
- Resource Constraints:
Startups or small teams may lack the budget for full refactors.
- Lack of Visibility:
If technical debt isn’t tracked or discussed, it goes unnoticed until it causes problems.

It’s tempting to think, “We’ll fix it next quarter.” But the longer you wait, the higher the interest:
- Slow Progress: Each shortcut adds friction. Features take longer. Bugs become mysterious.
- Team Morale: Developers get frustrated working around old mistakes.
- Customer Impact: Bugs, outages, or clunky user experiences hurt your reputation.
- Risk: Sometimes, critical failures happen because no one dared to touch a fragile system.

Here’s what we’ve seen work in real projects, both ours and our clients’:

You can’t fix what you can’t see.
- Document known issues: Keep track of debt alongside your feature backlog, not in a forgotten spreadsheet.
- Talk openly: Encourage team members to mention shortcuts or workarounds in meetings and code reviews.
- Use metrics: Track time spent on bug fixes or slowdowns caused by old code. Data makes the case for addressing debt.

Not all debt is urgent.
- Focus first on the debt that blocks new features, causes the most bugs, or creates security risks.
- Make debt reduction a visible part of your roadmap.
- Allocate time for cleanup in every sprint or release, not just when things break.

Big-bang rewrites almost never work. Instead:
- Adopt the “Boy Scout Rule”: Leave code better than you found it.
- Encourage small, frequent improvements, renaming variables, splitting functions, and improving documentation.
- Over time, these small changes add up and keep your codebase healthy.

Technical debt isn’t just a developer problem.
- Help business leaders understand the impact (delays, bugs, risk).
- Use real examples, missed features, incidents, or support costs.
- When leadership understands the business cost, it’s easier to get time and resources for debt reduction.

Don’t try to rebuild everything at once. Instead:
- Isolate critical parts of the system and modernize them first.
- Use continuous integration and automated tests to reduce migration risk.
- Work with partners who have experience untangling legacy systems.

Don’t let small issues linger.
- Prioritize bugs that impact users or core workflows.
- Don’t wait for a perfect time; make bug-fixing a regular habit.

At WIL, we’ve helped clients in healthcare, finance, e-commerce, and other industries tackle technical debt at every scale. Here are some real lessons:
- No two codebases are the same.

What works for a startup might not fit an enterprise system.
- Open conversations matter more than tools.

The best results come from teams that talk honestly about challenges.
- Small steps beat big promises.

Steady, regular improvements win over “someday we’ll rewrite it all.”

Technical debt isn’t a sign of failure; it’s a normal part of building and growing digital products. The trick is not to ignore it. Make it visible, make a plan, and keep chipping away. By being honest about shortcuts, involving everyone, and fixing problems as you go, you can keep your software healthy and your teams happy. If your project is feeling the strain of technical debt, don’t wait for a crisis. The best time to start is now, even with small steps. Need help mapping out a strategy or untangling legacy code? Our team at WIL can help you assess, plan, and manage technical debt so that you can move forward with confidence.