What is Tech Debt and What Should You Do About It?
by Joanna PinedaPosted on January 30, 2020
A couple of weeks ago, I did a webinar on Tech Debt with my CTO, Maki Kato, and MatrixMaxx AMS Product Manager, Tanya Kennedy-Luminati, and was also recently featured in an AssociationsNow article on the topic. What exactly is tech debt?
Wikipedia says Tech Debt “reflects the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy (limited) solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer.”
I say tech debt happens when:
You rush a solution
You don’t understand what you’re really trying to accomplish
You allow your tech to get too old
Your tech no longer meets the requirements of your organization today
Examples of tech debt include:
The membership database that never really met the needs of your meetings department, even at launch
The really old version of WordPress that’s hanging out somewhere, just waiting to be hacked
The software that you stopped paying support for, and now it’s four versions behind, and it will cost a fortune to upgrade and you may have to start fresh
The custom application that is running on an old version of Windows and SQL Server. The app still works but it’s now on an unsupported version of Windows.
Does this sound like your organization? If so, you might have tech debt!
During the webinar, Maki, Tanya and I talked about how the first step to addressing your tech debt is identifying and fully describing it. So before your next budget cycle:
Inventory your software and systems.
Describe them.
Find out the versions.
Are they working?
Do they meet your needs?
Even if you are not in a position to do something about the tech debt immediately, you will know what’s out there and you can start prioritizing the list and budgeting for solutions.
In future blog posts, we’ll talk about ways to remediate and avoid tech debt. Stay tuned!
Summary What are the best association management systems for small and medium trade associations in 2025? The top AMS platforms for small and medium trade associations in 2025 include MatrixMaxx, MemberClicks, Novi AMS, GrowthZone, Cobalt, Wild Apricot, and StarChapter. These systems are built to support organization-based memberships, complex dues structures, company directories, industry-specific data, and advocacy tools. When choosing an AMS,...
Over the past couple of years of hosting my Associations Thrive podcast, I’ve interviewed well over a hundred association and nonprofit CEOs about what they’re doing to help their organizations thrive. The conversations are inspiring, filled with examples of strategic initiatives, membership growth, innovative partnerships, and new revenue streams. And yet, there’s one topic that rarely comes up unless there’s a...
A few months ago, we shared how Matrix Group chose Fathom as our AI-powered note-taking app after testing multiple options. It was an exciting step in our AI journey—one that promised to make note taking more accurate and efficient, ensuring that key takeaways didn’t get lost in the shuffle. But as we started using Fathom more regularly, we ran into some...
