[catlifeonmars]

Speculation ahead:

One cost of accruing tech debt is the toll that it has on the mental health of developers. To me, it seems like common sense that over a certain threshold, unhappy developers will (1) work slower, (2) produce lower quality work, and (3) have a higher rate of turnover. I’m curious if there is any research on this effect (if it exists).

[andrew_]

Absolutely agree. I moved on from a very high level engineering position last August for exactly these reasons. A mountain of technical debt the size and breadth of the Rockies that was not being addressed was dragging everyone down. I'd had enough. Leadership at my current position understands what technical debt means, they understand the technical reasons given for calling it such, and the impact not only on business but also development time and DX.

[CyberRabbi]

If dealing with technical debt has a toll on one’s mental health then maybe they should transition to a different profession. Dealing with technical debt is part of your job description. Most people don’t have the luxury of ignoring the hard parts of their job.

[catlifeonmars]

It’s not about luxury, it’s about increasing output efficiency through (human) resource management. I asked if there was any available research that measures the effect of tech debt on mental health and therefore output efficiency. TBH, I’m not really sure which part of my original comment you are addressing.

Edit: clarification.

[CyberRabbi]

I’m addressing the premise of your question. If someone’s mental health is affected by technical, then that role is not well suited for them. No one should have to work a job where their mental health is constantly in jeopardy.

[catlifeonmars]

> No one should have to work a job where their mental health is constantly in jeopardy.

Agreed. But you’re using the term mental health as mutually exclusive to mental unhealth (unhealthiness?). I’m asking what the effect size is (assuming that there is an effect) and whether it can be modeled on a curve.

Edit: (addendum). It should go without saying that many people work in environments that are to some degree unhealthy for them and don’t have the luxury of switching.

[the_sleaze9]

I have anecdotal support with a sample size of 1: This happened to me. I genuinely wanted to care, and wanted to improve the situation, but found I was slowing down (1), introducing bugs with every merge (2) and finally I just left (3).

Business began with a certain idea, then over time pivoted into into better and better, mostly related niches for users. What that meant in terms of the code base is we started with one thing then tried to back-port it in several new directions and ended up with a gigantic ball of spaghetti.

Great job, great coworkers, great technical management. Code base just became so rotted and so overextended, it became untenable.