How do you handle tech debt without stopping new feature work completely?
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As a solo developer I feel like I am constantly caught between building new stuff and fixing my past mistakes.
When you are trying to launch fast you write quick dirty code just to see if an idea works. But a few months later that same code turns into a headache. Changing a tiny button now breaks two completely unrelated things.
The issue is users always want new features but my codebase is crying for a complete rewrite. If I spend two weeks refactoring I ship zero updates to users. If I keep building new features the whole app will eventually break.
For those running solo projects long term how do you balance refactoring with building new features. Do you set aside specific days for tech debt or just fix things as you go?
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Hey Seren,
Actually, I don't think it makes any difference if you go solo, or if you're in a team. In my experience (teamwork), we have always set aside 20% of each sprint to repay tech debt. It's only normal that you'd pile up one because you want to go fast.
But the biggest question here is - why not repay it with an agent simultaneously. And I know that could lead to code conflicts, depending on your setup. But it's just so much cheaper to use any agent to repay it nowadays. Not to mention that you could run it overnight and just see the result in the morning.
Best,
Ilian