Meaning of Technical Debt
Technical Debt refers to the extra workload that arises when you choose to develop a quicker, but less careful solution in your software.
It is like accruing a debt that you must pay off later. And just like a financial debt with interest, technical debt grows if you do not address it. The longer you wait, the more work it generates.
Quick Fix ≠ Sustainable
It might seem a good idea sometimes to opt for a quick fix instead of a sustainable approach to save time. But this usually leads to more work later, such as fixing bugs or rewriting code (refactoring). Initially it feels good to deliver things quickly, but it has an unnoticed negative impact on the future workload. I have experienced this myself regularly…
Impact on progress
If you ignore it, it will increasingly affect the progress of future Sprints. This is because you have to spend more and more time solving the earlier shortcuts instead of developing new functionality.
Technical Debt and Scrum
The Scrum Guide does not talk about technical debt, but the idea fits within the Scrum principle of regular reflection and improvement. Effective Scrum Teams in software development are aware of the Technical Debt they are accruing and strive each Sprint to reduce it. This ensures that the work remains manageable and of high quality in the long term.