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Logical Debt Is Much More Devastating Than Technical Debt
If technical debt behaves like a financial debt, logical debt behaves like a learning debt, which is much more impactful.
Once upon a time, there were software developers who ignored best practices like Domain-Driven Design; they took shortcuts to deliver their products quickly. They thought, “We get paid to write code, not design!”
The product manager, in turn, ignored what the development team ignored. She was not even able to name what they all were neglecting. But they were convinced that anything other than writing code was a waste of time. She thought, “Clients pay us to get working software!”
On the launch day, some 30 minutes after the launch, the ‘working software’ collapsed due to the unexpected — so unmanaged — massive amount of concurrent users. In the client's words, the product manager and the development team must solve a critical issue ‘immediately.’ Launch aborted.
After a sleepless night, when the shortcuts decided during the build phase of the ‘working software’ showed gross mistakes, the critical issue seemed solved. The product manager and the development team eagerly await users to try their product again.
The day after, the fixed product was available for users. Some 30 minutes after the release, the phone rang in the product manager's office.
“All users' feedback is that your product is inoperable! Even the simplest operation takes many unintuitive steps!” — The client’s CEO screamed.
“We delivered the best the underlying technologies allow. Let me explain. The API framework 13.19.9 had a patch with breaking changes…” — The product manager answered authoritatively.
“Are you kidding me?” — The client’s CEO shouted.
“It’s software, and you should understand that…” — tried to continue the product manager.
“You must understand that I pay for a service! I don’t care what happens behind the scenes! I want you to hide any complexity! Users need to be productive thanks to your services, not despite them!!!! — The client’s CEO shouted further and interrupted the phone call.
