Loose Gravel Chaos

a sequel about tech debt

Unfortunately, that is not a kite…

The street sign that had been left behind as a nuisance and example of poor stewardship turned dangerous in a severe storm. Immediately after I took this picture, another driver came flying around that corner and slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting either my car or the downed sign. Thankfully, I’d stopped well back from the stop sign, and they skidded into my empty lane in front of me.

Not only was the sign left long after its useful life, it was not properly weighted for the storm conditions. This is what happens when we don’t ‘run our fences’ and address the clutter that starts to collect from the passage of time and evolution of approach.

When data is left abandoned or orphaned within our systems…

When code is commented out rather than clearly documented or removed…

When endpoints are retired and active calls are sent into the abyss,

… this technical debt creates clutter and introduces opportunity for chaos.

By tending to the hygiene of our environments, we pay it forward to ourselves and/or the users and architects that will come after all of the tribal knowledge has left.

If nothing else, be vain and do it so that you don’t look silly. No pictures to prove it, but I flipped the loose gravel sign over so that it wasn’t laying across the road. The storm’s wind caught it so that it landed on its side point and looked like someone had fallen over in a jumping jack position. (No, I was not going to wade through the muddy ditch in the torrential rain to make further adjustments.). It looked foolish in that position for another week until someone mercifully collected it.

If you see me with a little smile as I turn that corner each morning, now you know why.