# Technical Debt in Embedded Systems Development

- Show: [The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast)
- Published: 2021-06-08
- Length: 33m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development
- Listen: https://agileembeddedpodcast.com/episodes/technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development-EA1VeMHd

## Summary

Jeff Gable and Luca engineer discuss technical debt in embedded systems, defining it as trading present velocity for future maintainability. They identify specific forms of debt, including poor hardware abstraction, untracked hardware revisions, and the lack of automated testing. The hosts argue that while prototyping may justify debt, safety-critical products require rigorous refactoring and visible tracking of these issues to avoid slowing down development teams.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=0) Introduction: Defining Technical Debt
- [2:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=138) Unintentional Debt and Prototyping Trade-offs
- [5:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=309) The Cost of Rushing Prototypes to Market
- [8:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=509) Specific Examples: Variable Naming and Hardware Abstraction
- [12:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=747) Exporting Debt Between Hardware and Software Teams
- [15:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=948) Strategies for Paying Down Debt: Boy Scout Rule and Tracking
- [20:59](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=1259) Hardware Configuration Proliferation and Field Support
- [27:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=1653) The Role of Automated Testing and TDD
- [31:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development#t=1876) Extending the Debt Metaphor to Process and Culture

## Topics

- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Agile Embedded Academy (other)
- Embedded AI Podcast (other)
- Dominica de Grandis (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [53: Being a Grownup Engineer (Repeat)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-09-28-53-being-a-grownup-engineer-repeat) (Embedded.fm)
- [440: Condemned to Being Perfect](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2023-01-13-440-condemned-to-being-perfect) (Embedded.fm)
- [16: Democracy Is the Worst Form of Government](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2013-08-28-16-democracy-is-the-worst-form-of-government) (Embedded.fm)
- [191: What, Yogurt!?!](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-03-15-191-what-yogurt) (Embedded.fm)
- [245: Tell Me How People Hurt You](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2018-05-10-245-tell-me-how-people-hurt-you) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-06-08-technical-debt-in-embedded-systems-development. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast.