3 Counter-Intuitive Ways to Slay the Technical Debt Monster When Implementing Scrum
Introduction:
The Invisible Anchor Dragging Your Team Down
Does your development team (errr…. officially “Developers” in Scrum) feel like they are in a state of constant firefighting?
Are you running just to stay in place, unable to deliver new value without breaking something else?
This feeling is a classic symptom of accumulated technical debt.
You know, it’s an invisible sludge building up in your product's engine, grinding everything to a halt.
When it gets bad enough, forecasting becomes impossible, and the value curve you're working so hard to raise just flattens out, no matter how hard the team works.
The core dilemma is that while the development team feels this pain acutely, stakeholders often see the necessary cleanup work as mere "developer chores."
They prioritize the "shiny objects” (new, visible features) over fixing a leaky foundation they can't see.
This post reveals three counter-intuitive shifts in perspective that can help you and your team communicate the critical importance of this invisible work and finally get it prioritized.
Before you begin reading this in depth article…
You Can Listen To My Podcast Episode
Instead Of (Or In Addition To?!)
Reading This Article.
In The Podcast Episode — AND This Article — We Cover:
Takeaway 1: It's Not a Chore, It's a Risk
Takeaway 2: If It's Not in the Backlog, It Doesn't Exist
Takeaway 3: Translate Technical Jargon into Business Impact
You can read a detailed “chapter summary” — with direct links to the podcast section — at the end of this article.
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— which is a summary and overview based on
the content of the podcast episode above —
is part of an experiment I am running.
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ok… so let’s continue the reading (well, you reading not us together heh)….
Takeaway 1:
It's Not a Chore,
It's a Risk
Stop Calling It 'Technical Debt.'
Start Calling It 'Product Risk.'
The fundamental mistake you might be making is treating technical debt as a problem that belongs solely to the developers.
It's seen as an internal, technical issue to be handled behind the scenes, but in reality, it's a collection of ticking time bombs inside your product.
By reframing the conversation, you move the topic from "housekeeping" to "risk management."
This shift is crucial because it aligns the work with business priorities and elevates its importance in the eyes of decision-makers.
It’s not just about clean code; it’s about the health and viability of the product.
At its core, it's organizational risk.
It's product risk.
It's something that can genuinely threaten the whole business if it gets bad enough.
Takeaway 2:
If It's Not in the Backlog,
It Doesn't Exist
The Most Important Place for Debt Is in Plain Sight.
Technical debt thrives in the absence of a core Scrum pillar: Transparency.
When the fragility of the product is invisible to key decision-makers, they are forced to make choices based on incomplete information.
The Scrum Guide is clear on this point:
"Low transparency leads to decisions that decrease value and increase risk."
When debt is invisible, stakeholders will naturally make decisions based on incomplete information, prioritizing short-term gains while unknowingly accelerating long-term risk.
To combat this, all work related to technical debt—including bug fixes, platform upgrades, and architectural improvements—must be made into visible Product Backlog Items (PBIs).
The Product Backlog is the single, authoritative source for all work the team undertakes.
If it isn't there, it doesn't exist.
The Scrum Guide defines the product backlog as the single source of work the team undertakes.
All work means all work. If it takes team capacity, it belongs in the backlog.
Period.
Takeaway 3:
Translate Technical Jargon
into Business Impact
Frame the Work Around the Cost of Inaction.
Simply making technical debt visible in the backlog is not enough.
To be prioritized, it must be described in a language that the Product Owner and other stakeholders understand: the language of business consequences.
This means shifting from technical descriptions to a clear articulation of business impact.
Here are two practical examples of how to reframe your requests:
• Instead of saying: "We need to refactor the database schema."
Say this: "We need to fix the data inconsistency issue that is currently causing 5% of our customer orders to fail, a rate we expect to double next quarter if we don't act."
• Instead of saying: "We need to upgrade the platform."
Say this: "Investing one sprint to upgrade this core platform will unlock the ability to cut our transaction processing fees by 15%, saving $Z annually."
This translation is precisely what arms the Product Owner for conversations with stakeholders.
It gives them the ammunition to justify prioritization against the constant pressure for new features.
Always tie it back to a measurable business outcome.
That's how you justify the investment.
That's the language of value.
Takeaway 4:
WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR OWN IDEAS?
KEEP SCROLLING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS!
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Conclusion:
From Firefighting
to
Strategic Investment
By changing how you talk about technical debt, you can transform it from an ignored "developer chore" into a strategic business conversation.
The key is to reframe it as risk, make it fully transparent in the backlog, and translate the technical details into the language of business value.
This isn't about winning an argument; it's about creating shared understanding and protecting the future of your product.
What Next?
Watch the full video for more in-depth examples and insights!
And… let me ask you to answer this for me (please!)….
What is one small change you can make tomorrow to shift this conversation in order to slay your technical debt monster?
Let me know via a direct message on LinkedIn here.
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* FULL DISCLOSURE *
This podcast episode and article [lightly edited by me] was created using NotebookLM, an AI tool by Google, to generate an audio overview based on my own curated sources about Implementing Scrum in the real world.
The content has been carefully reviewed for accuracy.
Any opinions or insights shared are my own, and the AI was used solely as a tool to assist in presenting the information.
SLAY The Technical Debt Monster:
The 3-Step Script
to Get Leaders to
Say 'YES' to Cleanup.
Key Moments In This Episode
0:00 Introduction: The Challenge of Technical Debt
0:36 - The Real Problem: The "Sludge in the Engine" Analogy (Why debt slows everything down).
1:48 - The Stakeholder Conflict: Why Leaders See Debt as "Developer Chores" (And demand "Shiny Objects").
2:37 - The Fundamental Mistake: Stop Treating Debt as a Technical Problem (Reframe it as Organizational Risk).
3:45 - The Aha! Moment: Stop Talking Like Technicians, Start Talking Like Risk Analysts.
4:07 - Strategy 1: The Fix: Debt MUST Become a Visible Product Backlog Item (PBI).
5:10 - The Business "Why": How to Justify Debt Work with Compliance, Fines, and Lost Sales.
6:27 - Strategy 2: Quantify the Loss: Arming the PO by Forecasting Impact on Future Velocity/Capacity.
7:40 - The Investment Angle: Translating Tech Debt into Lost Feature Delivery.
8:12 - PO Authority & Courage: The Key Attributes a Product Owner Needs to Prioritize Risk.
9:08 - Developer Accountability: Maintaining Sustainable Pace & Pushing Back on Shortcuts.
9:57 - The "Stan Problem": Dealing with Organizational Resistance & Fixed Scope Projects.
11:53 - Practical Scripting: Ditch the Jargon: Focus on Business Consequence of Inaction.
12:41 - Proactive Reframing: Tying Investment Directly to Cost Savings or New Capabilities.