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Technical Debt Feedback Loop

Run the Tech Debt Feedback MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim

A causal-loop diagram that makes the reinforcing dynamic of technical debt visible. Five variables — Technical Debt, Development Velocity, Schedule Pressure, Shortcut Rate, Defect Rate — feed back into each other, and the more debt you have, the more debt you accumulate.

Click Add Leverage Points to introduce three structural interventions:

  • Protected Refactor Capacity (cuts the shortcut path)
  • Debt Visibility (cuts the debt-accumulation path)
  • Engineering Leadership Cover (cuts the schedule-pressure path)

The visual transition from doom loop to controllable system is the lesson.

Embedding This MicroSim

<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/information-systems/sims/tech-debt-feedback-loop/main.html"
        height="722px" width="100%" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Learning Objectives

By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

  1. Identify a reinforcing feedback loop in a system diagram
  2. Articulate why a reinforcing loop produces compounding cost over time
  3. Name three structural interventions that break the loop
  4. Apply the same loop pattern to other domains (operational debt, customer-support debt, security debt)

Suggested Activities

  1. Read the Loop (5 min) — Trace each arrow; recite the polarity in your own words
  2. Apply the Pattern (15 min) — Build a similar loop diagram for security debt or operational debt
  3. Defend a Leverage Point (10 min) — In one paragraph, explain why "protected refactor capacity" is more powerful than "telling engineers to write better code"

References

  • Cunningham, W. (1992). The WyCash Portfolio Management System (origin of "tech debt").
  • Meadows, D. (2008). Thinking in Systems: A Primer.