Being a technology leader is hard.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of prioritizing new features over code quality. To convince yourself that you’ll “clean it up later” when you have more time or resources.
I know this because I’ve been there. At Home Depot, we once delayed a critical refactoring for three consecutive quarters to hit feature deadlines.
There is a dramatic difference between making decisions from feature-pressure versus technical sustainability.
At its worst, feature-pressure feels like constant firefighting. It makes us accumulate shortcuts that eventually become permanent.
But sustainable development? It feels like having room to breathe. It helps us move consistently rather than in bursts of productivity followed by stagnation.
Feature-pressure narrows vision. Sustainability expands it.
The next time you’re feeling the pressure to ship at all costs, consider:
- Is this shortcut something we’ll realistically come back to fix?
- What’s the compounding cost if we don’t address this now?
- How will this decision affect our velocity three months from now?
Sustainable engineering isn’t about perfection. It’s about making conscious tradeoffs with eyes wide open.
The teams that win long-term aren’t the ones who ship the most features this quarter. They’re the ones who maintain their ability to ship quickly quarter after quarter.
Technical debt isn’t technical at all—it’s a business decision masquerading as a technical one.
And just like financial debt, it compounds with interest when ignored.
What technical decisions are you making today that your future self will thank you for?
Here’s to finding clarity in the chaos
Until next time
– Christopher