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20% Tech Debt Rule
Technical debt is unavoidable, but must be actively managed. We use the 20% rule for continuous repayment and are not afraid of Dependency Bankruptcy when the situation demands it.
Core Concept
Around 20% of a team's capacity is permanently reserved for refactoring, updates, and architectural improvements — regardless of feature requests. This safeguards long-term delivery speed (velocity).
Application
- Tech Debt Registry: Making debt visible in the backlog or via TODOs in the code.
- Refactoring Sprints: Targeted phases for paying down interest in core components.
- Dependency Bankruptcy: Complete replacement of libraries or services when maintenance costs outweigh the benefits.