PAY NOW OR PAY LATER?

Technical debt is a simple idea.

It’s the price you pay tomorrow to fix up the mistakes of yesterday.

And you can’t avoid it because software is written by programmers, and despite appearances, most are fallible humans.

The trouble for young SaaS platforms is technical debt, like its financial cousin, is all too easy to get in to.

A rush to make an MVP, a failure to properly plan a project, and a less than rigorous development partner can all play starring roles.

Luckily, forewarned is forearmed for those yet to get in to the proverbial, but many already up to their waist in it, struggle to drag themselves out.

Typically they want to spend more time and money making the best of a bad situation, often demanding those responsible should tidy it up.

This feels like the right thing to do.

But a poor workman will produce a poor result regardless of the tools, and demanding they rinse and repeat just continues the cycle.

It may even increase your technical debt.

But if you’re playing the long game, investments in poor outcomes are simply sunk costs.

They’re tolls you pay along your way to SaaS success.

So, as you can only spend your resources once, which will it be?

Paying some of your debt today, or investing in a brighter future and paying it off later?

#MrSaaSSays