Technical debt is a metaphor describing the consequences of making suboptimal technical decisions during software development. Like financial debt, it can accumulate over time, gaining “interest” in the form of increased code complexity, higher maintenance costs, and slower development of new features. In the fast-growing IT market—particularly relevant for Hungarian startups and digital companies—effective management of technical debt becomes not just a task for the development team but a crucial part of a sustainable growth strategy.
Causes of Technical Debt
Technical debt usually arises from the following: rushing to launch an MVP, insufficient architecture planning, lack of skilled professionals, or compromises between quality and deadlines. Sometimes, debt is a conscious decision: teams sacrifice “clean” code for speed to enter the market faster. However, without further management, this strategy risks leading to reduced performance and increased costs.
Methodologies for Identifying and Classifying Debt
Before managing technical debt, it must be recognized. One of the key steps is classifying debt: it may be architectural, code-related, testing-related, or even related to documentation. Code analysis using static analyzers such as SonarQube or CodeClimate helps identify potential risk zones. Regular code reviews and technical audits are also crucial for determining which parts of the code require urgent refactoring.
More formalized approaches also exist, such as Martin Fowler’s Tech Debt Quadrant, which classifies debt into deliberate/accidental and short-term/long-term. Such analysis helps understand the nature of the debt and build appropriate strategies for its resolution.
Agile and DevOps: Allies in Managing Technical Debt
Agile and DevOps methodologies provide a strong foundation for a systematic approach to technical debt. In Scrum, for example, part of the sprint can be allocated for reducing accumulated debt, and debt-related items can be included in the backlog. The Product Owner must understand that debt is not an abstract developer problem, but a factor that affects business goals. Teams working with Kanban can visualize debt as separate cards on the board, making monitoring and prioritization easier.
DevOps strengthens this practice through automation. CI/CD pipelines allow prompt detection of errors and deviations from standards. For instance, automatic code style checks, unit tests, and dependency control tools reduce the chances of accumulating “invisible” debt. Additionally, metrics such as time-to-recovery, test coverage, and build success rate provide quantitative assessments of the project’s technical health.
Preventive Strategies and Monitoring
One of the best ways to combat technical debt is to prevent it. Architectural principles, standardization, and code style guides are helpful in this regard. Regular code reviews become not only a quality improvement tool but also an educational practice within the team. Creating a culture where debt is recognized and discussed reduces the likelihood of issues going unnoticed.
Effective dependency and library version management is also crucial. Using outdated frameworks—especially in Hungarian organizations where migrating to new technologies may be delayed due to limited budgets—often leads to growing invisible architectural debt. Therefore, regular reviews of technology and documentation are essential elements of prevention.
How to Prioritize Debt Elimination
Not all technical debt should be eliminated immediately. Various approaches are used for prioritization: from simple urgency/importance matrices to more advanced models such as Cost of Delay and ROI-based analysis. It’s important to consider both the impact of the debt on performance and on business metrics. For example, if a specific part of the system is blocking product scalability, eliminating it should be a priority.
Some teams implement a “technical budget”—a certain percentage of time allocated monthly for refactoring and optimization. This approach is especially popular among tech companies in Budapest, where maintaining competitiveness requires flexibility and high development speed.
Conclusion: Managing Debt is a Team Effort
Effective technical debt management is impossible without the involvement of all participants in the development process: from developers to managers and product owners. It is important that debt is not perceived as the fault of individual team members but rather as a natural byproduct of growth and development. A conscious approach, support from the business side, and the implementation of systematic methodologies help not only control debt but also use it as a tool for strategic development.
In Hungary’s dynamic IT market, companies that know how to competently manage technical debt gain not only stability but also flexibility—key qualities in a climate of technological change and high competition.
