# Technical debt

Concept · [Technical basics](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical)

Also called: tech debt, code debt, refactor, refactoring, rewrite

Shortcuts taken while building software that save time now but make later changes slower and riskier until someone cleans them up.

**For example:** To launch on time, a team copies the same pricing rules into five places. Every later price change now has to be made five times, and one is easily missed.

## Connects to (11)

- [Bug](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/bug): A mistake in software that makes it behave in a way nobody intended.
- [MVP](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/mvp): Minimum viable product.
- [CTO](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cto): Chief technology officer.
- [Vibe coding vs software engineering](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/vibe-coding-vs-software-engineering): Two ways to build software with AI.
- [DX](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/dx): Developer experience: how easy and pleasant a tool, codebase or service is for the people who build with it, such as clear documentation…
- [Function coloring](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/function-coloring): A nickname for a problem in many programming languages: functions that wait on slow work (async) and functions that do not cannot be mixed…
- [Red-green-refactor](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/red-green-refactor): A way of writing code in three steps: write a test that fails (red), write just enough code to make it pass (green), then clean up the…
- [Microsoft Access](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/microsoft-access): A desktop database app from Microsoft for building small databases with forms and reports.
- [Windows Forms](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/windows-forms): A Microsoft framework for building desktop apps for Windows with .NET.
- [Fractional CTO](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/fractional-cto): A part-time chief technology officer.
- [Technical due diligence](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical-due-diligence): A review of a company's technology by an outside expert before an investment or an acquisition: how the product is built, its security…

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical-debt