How do you justify API refactoring over new features to stakeholders?
Tests turning technical drag into business cost. Frame cruft as interest on velocity; quantify incident cost, MTTR, and lead time; advocate incremental cleanup with product work. Avoid demanding a six-month rewrite without product tie-in.
Tests whether you can translate technical drag into business cost and build a credible investment case for non-technical stakeholders. Frame cruft as compound interest on delivery velocity; quantify the tax using incident cost, MTTR, error rates, and feature lead time. Advocate paying down principal incrementally alongside product work rather than a big-bang freeze. The red flag is hiding behind unmeasurable quality or demanding a lengthy rewrite with no clear product tie-in.
Read the original → martinfowler.com
- #technical debt
- #product strategy
- #stakeholder communication
- #refactoring
- #metrics
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