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Tech Debt Identification Framework

This document outlines the standard process for identifying, documenting, prioritizing, and addressing technical debt within the Lyzer project.

1. What is Technical Debt?

Technical debt refers to the implied cost of future rework caused by choosing expedient solutions now instead of implementing better approaches that would take longer.

But can also include things like outdated dependencies or technologies, incomplete features, code complexity and lack of documentation, known bugs or performance issues deferred for later, and architectural limitations that impede future development.

2. Tech Debt Documentation Template

When documenting technical debt, please use the following template:

# [Tech Debt Item Title]

- Author: [Your GitHub Username]
- Email: [Your Email, if you feel comfortable sharing it]
- Date: [Date of identification]
- Status: [Draft/Review/Approved/Rejected/In Progress/Done]
- Planned: [Yes/No]
- Milestone: [Milestone name if planned]

## Summary

A concise summary (2-3 sentences) of the technical debt item.

## Impact Assessment

- **Severity**: [Low/Medium/High/Critical]
- **Scope**: [Localized/Component/System-wide]
- **Risk Profile**: [Low/Medium/High] risk if not addressed
- **Development Impact**: How it affects development velocity or quality
- **Area**: [Frontend/Backend/Documentation/Architecture/Other]

## Detailed Description

A thorough explanation of the tech debt item, including:

- How and why it was introduced
- Current limitations or problems it causes
- Code/system areas affected
- Reproduction steps for issues (if applicable)
- Screenshots or logs demonstrating the problem (if applicable)

## Proposed Resolution

- Potential approaches to resolve the debt
- Required investigations/spikes
- Dependencies that must be resolved first

## Benefits of Resolution

What improvements would resolving this tech debt bring?

- Performance gains
- Maintainability improvements
- Feature enablement
- Risk reduction
- Developer experience improvements

## Risks of Deferral

What are the consequences of not addressing this tech debt?

## Acceptance Criteria

How will we know when this tech debt has been properly addressed?

3. Identification Process

Technical debt can be identified through various channels:

  1. Regular Code Reviews: Team members identify tech debt during code reviews
  2. Performance/Security Analysis: Tools that highlight potential issues
  3. Developer Friction: Issues that slow down development

4. Prioritization Framework

Not all technical debt needs to be addressed immediately. Use this framework to prioritize:

Priority Levels

  1. Critical: Blocking development, causing production issues, or creating security vulnerabilities
  2. High: Significantly impeding development velocity or product quality
  3. Medium: Causes occasional problems or will become more severe if not addressed
  4. Low: Minor inconvenience that has minimal impact on development or users

Prioritization Factors

Consider these factors when assigning priority:

  • User experience impact
  • Developer productivity impact
  • Growth implications
  • Risk profile
  • Cost of delay

5. Tech Debt Resolution Process

  1. Documentation: Create a tech debt document using the template
  2. Triage: Initial review by maintainers to validate and prioritize
  3. Planning: Include in milestone planning based on priority
  4. Implementation: Address according to the proposed resolution
  5. Verification: Confirm resolution meets acceptance criteria
  6. Documentation Update: Update tech debt documentation to mark as resolved

6. Documentation Standards

Directory Structure

Place tech debt documentation in the appropriate directory:

  • /Docs/docs/proposals/tech-debt/ - For tech debt documentation

Formatting Guidelines

  • Use Markdown consistently
  • Include a clear title (H1) at the top of each document
  • Organize content with hierarchical headings (H2, H3, etc.)
  • Use bulleted lists for items without specific sequence
  • Include code blocks with appropriate language tags
  • Add screenshots or performance metrics when applicable

Images and Evidence

  • Store supporting images in the /Docs/docs/proposals/tech-debt/assets/ subdirectory
  • Use descriptive filenames for images
  • Include relevant metrics or benchmarks where possible

Example Tech Debt Document

See Example Tech Debt Document for a complete example following this framework.