Glossary · Automation software engineering and architecture
Technical debt
Also known as: Tech debt, Code debt
German: Technische Schulden
In software engineering, technical debt is the future cost of rework caused by choosing an expedient solution now instead of a better one, for example skipped tests, duplicated code, outdated dependencies or missing documentation.
- Software engineering
In one sentence
Technical debt is the future rework cost caused by choosing a quick solution now over a better one, such as skipped tests or docs.
Example
To meet a delivery date, the team copied the conveyor code into three machine variants; each later fix must now be made three times.
How it applies
- Engineering: Some debt is a deliberate trade-off; unmanaged debt slows every change. Teams record known debt in the backlog and reserve capacity for Refactoring.
- Maintenance: Machines run for decades, so debt in automation software is paid by service teams long after the project ends: outdated libraries, unsupported tools, undocumented workarounds.
- Documentation: Documentation debt is real: outdated screenshots, missing topics, inconsistent terms. Tracking it like code debt, with tickets and priorities, makes it visible. It relates closely to Information drift.
Technical debt vs. defect
A Software defect makes the software behave incorrectly. Technical debt may cause no failure at all but makes the software harder and costlier to change.