Tech debt is a task piling when you procrastinate the software upgrade on time. When you have the task to fix the bugs, upgrades, and vulnerability assessments, you delay it. Time passed by, and other tasks are coming. You will get a lot of jobs from earlier and current ones.
Why do people create tech debts?
People, especially developers, in this case, make tech debts because they have some problems to pass. They built an app but didn't test how it should behave, so they have some mystery that the upgrade will break the system. Some even think that the upgrade will not be as good as writing the app again from the ground.
The OS upgrades are even critical. We use a lot of binary packages, the system is upgrading, and we don't know when the machine will stop or even rest in peace with our data. These scenarios will give the sysadmin a headache.
So, the answer for them is do not touch the system if it is running. The side effect of touching nothing is procrastination, then tech debts.
Some people leave the apps and machines after the app or OS is over Long Term Support.
Read More: LTS - What is it and how it works?
The effect of tech debt or procrastination of upgrades
Your system is not up to date. If you do not update software or an operating system, you will have the following problems.
It cannot get updates after it has become end-of-life support. If the supplier no longer supports your app, you cannot use the features the app or framework provides and security fixes.
The operating systems are the same. You pay for the license for the OS, but you will not get the latest features and fixes from your OS because of your tech debt. Package maintainability will become a huge issue.
How can a tech debt be solved?
You can catch up on the tech debt by working on it. Make sure you don't have an unpayable amount of tech debts, or hire or subscribe a set of developers and teams to make your tech debt pay. Nothing has a shortcut.
Prevention is better than cure!
To prevent the tech debt is the cure. Every software needs maintenance, whether its size is small or big. Regular maintenance and testing will make your task easy and manageable. If you see the tech debt, pay as soon as possible. No debt is good for you.