The Debt Nobody Sees

Who this book is for

Người làm sản phẩm ở doanh nghiệp Việt Nam: product manager, product owner, trưởng nhóm sản phẩm ở công ty phần mềm, ứng dụng di động, sàn thương mại điện tử, fintech và bộ phận số của doanh nghiệp truyền thống; làm việc hằng ngày với kỹ sư, thiết kế, đội bán hàng và chăm sóc khách, thường không có đội nghiên cứu người dùng hay phân tích dữ liệu riêng.

Sound familiar?

• Engineers say they need time to clean up but can't explain the benefit in plain terms.
• A small feature is estimated at three weeks, and nobody understands why.
• Every release breaks something nobody touched.
• Cleanup always sinks to the bottom of the backlog because no customer asks for it.

Each chapter answers one question

1. Chapter 1: Is tech debt really just an engineering problem?

   Where is technical debt slowing my team down?

   Technical debt is shortcuts already taken, and its interest is paid in speed.

2. Chapter 2: Engineers mention debt, so why can't I see the cost?

   What do I ask so engineers can describe the debt in consequences rather than jargon?

   Engineers know where the debt is; product people need to ask so it becomes a priced choice.

3. Chapter 3: Paying debt or shipping features: which ruler decides?

   What yardstick do I use to compare paying off a debt with building a feature?

   Paying down debt competes for the same time budget as features, so they must be compared on the same scale.

4. Chapter 4: Will the boss accept fewer features this quarter?

   How do I explain to my boss why fewer features are being built this quarter?

   Leadership does not need to understand code; they need to see speed and risk.

5. Chapter 5: Who really creates the tech debt?

   Which of my decisions are forcing engineers to take shortcuts?

   A lot of debt is born from deadlines set by product people themselves.