“Despite all the testing we do, field issues do not seem to abate. Sometimes it is a few serious issues that cause us to react intensely, sometimes it is a bunch of simple issues that make us consume bandwidth. Clearly the backlog is building up, with debts to be serviced, straining capacity to deliver new ideas.” This is what I hear from senior engineering managers of product companies. How do you go about fixing this? Well, I have seen a flurry of activity to identify root cause(s) and address them. They help to set focus, but fizzle out. Analysing 'quality of technical debt’ to understand types of issues that leak enables practical actions, rather than jumping into the ‘reason of why’ (root cause). Smart QA it is, to do failure analytics differently, to ‘tighten the purse’. Technical debt is indeed a serious drain on engineering capacity, forcing one to fix issues at the expense of building revenue yielding new features. Smart failure analytics visualises problems well, enabling clear actions to strengthen practice and reduce debt significantly. If you are “choked by technical debt”, then you may find our SmartQA consulting (stagsoftware.com/smartqa) interesting, where we unshackle your practice so that you can exploit technology.

1. 1

2. “Despite all the testing we do, field issues do not seem to abate.
Sometimes it is a few serious issues that cause us to react intensely,
sometimes it is a bunch of simple issues that make us consume bandwidth.
Clearly the backlog is building up,
with debts to be serviced, straining capacity to deliver new ideas.”
said a Senior Engineering Manager

3. 3
Are you
choked by
technical
debt?
While
doing rapid
development ..

4. 4
The typical approach to curtailing technical debt
Do RCA
1

5. 5
The typical approach to curtailing technical debt
Do RCA Find root causes
1 2

6. 6
The typical approach to curtailing technical debt
Do RCA Find root causes Then figure out next steps
1 2 3

7. 7
The typical approach to curtailing technical debt
Do RCA Find root causes Then figure out next steps
They seem to help set focus, but fizzle out!
1 2 3

8. 8
The typical approach to curtailing technical debt
Do RCA Find root causes Then figure out next steps
They seem to help set focus, but fizzle out!
Do NOT jump to doing RCA
STOP
1 2 3

9. 9
Analyse ‘quality’ of technical debt

10. 10
Analyse ‘quality’ of technical debt
FOCUS on
WHAT types of issues leak?
WHERE do they leak from?

11. 11
do SMART FAILURE ANALYTICS
Issues (Tech Debt)

12. 12
do SMART FAILURE ANALYTICS
Data validation issues
Interface handling issues
Internal structural issues
Basic behavioural issues
Flow behavioural issues
Environment handling issues
Attribute issues
Deployment issues
End user issues
Issues (Tech Debt) WHAT type of issues?

13. COMPONENTS
13
do SMART FAILURE ANALYTICS
Data validation issues
Interface handling issues
Internal structural issues
Basic behavioural issues
Flow behavioural issues
Environment handling issues
Attribute issues
Deployment issues
End user issues
Issues (Tech Debt) WHAT type of issues? WHERE from?

14. COMPONENTS
FEATURES
14
do SMART FAILURE ANALYTICS
Data validation issues
Interface handling issues
Internal structural issues
Basic behavioural issues
Flow behavioural issues
Environment handling issues
Attribute issues
Deployment issues
End user issues
Issues (Tech Debt) WHAT type of issues? WHERE from?

15. COMPONENTS
FEATURES
FLOWS
15
do SMART FAILURE ANALYTICS
Data validation issues
Interface handling issues
Internal structural issues
Basic behavioural issues
Flow behavioural issues
Environment handling issues
Attribute issues
Deployment issues
End user issues
Issues (Tech Debt) WHAT type of issues? WHERE from?

16. COMPONENTS
FEATURES
FLOWS
16
do SMART FAILURE ANALYTICS
Data validation issues
Interface handling issues
Internal structural issues
Basic behavioural issues
Flow behavioural issues
Environment handling issues
Attribute issues
Deployment issues
End user issues
Clear what & where to “Tighten purse smartly”
Issues (Tech Debt) WHAT type of issues? WHERE from?

17. Technical debt is serious drain on engineering capacity,
forcing one to fix issues at the expense of
building revenue yielding new features.
Visualise problem well to take clear actions,
to reduce debt significantly.

18. stagsoftware.com
Home of SmartQA.
Do LESS.Accomplish MORE.
Brilliant thinking, diligent action and adept tooling
to deliver clean code rapidly and cost effectively.
Check out our SmartQA Practice consulting.
stagsoftware.com/smartqa
“Choked by technical debt?”
Unshackle your practice so that you can exploit technology.