How to Calculate Tech Debt
What is Tech Debt?
A technical debt estimator quantifies the accumulated cost of shortcuts and deferred refactoring in a codebase. Technical debt grows with compound interest — small shortcuts that take 1 hour now may require 10 hours to fix later when they have caused systemic issues.
Step-by-Step Guide
- 1Identify shortcuts and workarounds
- 2Estimate refactoring effort
- 3Calculate opportunity cost
Worked Examples
Input
10 days refactoring to reduce by 20%
Result
Estimated 2 day/quarter savings
Varies by complexity
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- ✕Wrong parameters
- ✕Missing adjustments
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this calculator do?
Set parameters
How do I use this calculator?
Run calculation
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