MPrin in a development project

The MPrin of new technical debt associated with a development project is usually taken to be the difference between the cost of implementing it in a sustainable manner and the cost of simply making it work. The effort saved by choosing the latter over the former is typically identified as the initial MPrin of the technical debt.

The "basket bridge" of the Los Angeles Metro system
The “basket bridge” of the Los Angeles Metro system. Constructed by the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, and opened in 2012, it carries the Los Angeles to Pasadena Metro Gold Line light rail across the eastbound lanes of the I-210 Freeway. The rail line provides transport service to a ridership that had been driving or using bus service. Although the bus and rail aren’t exact duplicates of each other, there is enough overlap that bus ridership dropped significantly after the rail line opened, which created a technical debt in the bus system that is being retired by reducing, rescheduling and re-routing bus service [Broverman 2017].

For example, in an enhancement project for an existing asset, after we finally achieve an operational capability, we might recognize that we have duplicated some functionality that already existed elsewhere in the asset. In such cases, the responsible, debt-free approach would be to first remove the duplication, then to modify the asset to use the previously existing approach, and finally to re-test the asset. By leaving the duplication in place, we save all that effort (and time), which many regard as the MPrin of a technical debt.

In a closely related example, we might recognize that the duplicated functionality in the newly developed portion of the asset is superior to the pre-existing form elsewhere in the asset. We’d like to remove the pre-existing form and replace instances of that form with instances of the newly developed functionality. But that work is clearly outside the scope of the new development, and it must await budgetary authority before it can be undertaken. Consequently, it becomes technical debt for the larger asset.

As time passes, and the enterprise undertakes other development projects, the implementations of previous projects can accumulate additional technical debt. The more obvious mechanisms by which this occurs include defect discovery, customer requests for enhancements, the need to enhance cyberdefenses in response to new threats, or changes in law or regulation.

An example of a less obvious process might be insights gained in marketing one product, which we shall call P1, that reveal an opportunity to introduce other related products, P2, P3, and P4, to form a suite. The latter products could employ some of the assets developed for or contained in P1, if they had been constructed slightly differently. The changes required in P1 therefore constitute technical debt, because we would have been able to develop P2, P3, and P4 much more rapidly if we had recognized the opportunity earlier. The P1 changes then become technical debt. And if we pursue P2, P3, or P4 without first retiring that debt, the debt probably expands, because it’s mirrored in the subsequent products.

New product (or service) developments often generate these situations.

References

[Broverman 2017] Neal Broverman. “The Success of the Gold and Expo Lines Has Taken a Toll on Bus Ridership,” Los Angeles Magazine, March 30, 2017.

Available: here; Retrieved: November 21, 2017

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Related posts

Examples of MPrin in four scenarios

Last updated on November 22nd, 2017 at 12:22 pm

Some examples might help to clarify the differences between the principal of financial debts and the MPrin of a technical debt. The examples to come in the next four posts are designed to illustrate the unique properties of MPrins of technical debts.

Technical debt can arise as a result of:
  • Changes internally within the enterprise
  • External environmental changes that directly affect existing assets
  • Changes in the competitive environment
  • Insights and changes in perception that lead to changes in objectives
  • Existing technical debt
  • Deferring decisions about almost anything

By contrast, we incur financial debt only as a result of decisions to incur financial debt.

The examples sketched below illustrate some of these phenomena. They’re described more completely described posts indicated.

Development projects

This example illustrates how technical debt can develop as a result of unanticipated insight regarding a marketing opportunity for a new product line. It shows how technical debt can arise independent of any decision made within the enterprise, and without any changes to assets of any kind. More: “MPrin in a development project

Platform component upgrades

We’ve already provided an example of technical debt arising from a platform upgrade. In this example, we show how deferring a platform upgrade creates new complications not present in the previous example, by illustrating how total MPrin can increase after the debt is incurred. More: “MPrin in platform component upgrades

Standards or regulatory changes

Changes in standards or regulations, whether internal, industry-wide, or governmental, can create technical debt. In some cases, the enterprise might not even be aware of the new debt. More: “MPrin when standards or regulations change

Missing or incompletely implemented capability

When a capability is incompletely implemented, it’s clear that the part left undone constitutes technical debt. What is less clear is what happens when the capability implementation is halted or rescinded. Trying to avoid new technical debt can actually be the cause of new technical debt, albeit of a different kind. More: “MPrin for missing or incompletely implemented capability

Whether or not any similar scenarios have happened in your organization, these discussions are helpful for gaining insight into what kinds of technical debt policies can assist your organization in managing its technical debt. Let me know if you have experience with situations in which problems can be traced, even if only in part, to treating technical debt as if it were financial debt.

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