Tips On Prioritizing Tech Debt In A Healthy Way

This article jumps in the anti-pattern, what not to do first. And I have to emphasize it because I've seen it multiple times and it is a complete failure.

Let's start with what not to do. Many teams end up with two kinds of backlogs – one product-focused and one tech-focused.

Having two backlogs is agreeing to not agree. It creates so many negative issues, this article highlights some of them. If you see this practice, do everything you can to stop it immediately.

Overall I think he approach framed up here is spot on for addressing this topic. The most important aspect is for technologists to understand how to communicate the abstract concept of tech debt in terms that make sense in a market context.

Your best strategy here is to understand how to give that context in the language your stakeholders speak. "Well, it's trivial why this is important" won't work. There are 50 other items in your backlog which is "trivially important" to them. Also, please don't make it about yourself. It's great that you're passionate about fixing this, but if it sounds like your pet project without any further argument, it likely won't get prioritized. I'll show you a few ways to frame your views. Spoiler: it's all about connecting the dots from your tech debt items to your internal or external customers and the product's performance.

I added the bold. If you find yourself unable to get attention to these matters, I guarantee the issue is how it is being communicated.

There are a number of good suggestions outlined here to address technical debt.