Invisible Technical Debt Detector
Uncover the hidden technical debt that doesn't show up in code quality metrics. From architecture decay to knowledge silos, identify the invisible liabilities that silently compound and slow you down.
Assessment Dimensions
Rate each dimension on a 1–10 scale based on your organization
How much has the system's actual architecture drifted from its intended design? Consider whether boundaries are still respected, whether the dependency graph has become tangled, and whether the system resists the changes you need to make.
How concentrated is critical system knowledge in a few individuals? Rate higher if bus factor is low, if tribal knowledge dominates over documentation, and if onboarding new team members takes months rather than weeks.
How many undocumented or unexpected dependencies exist in the system? Consider implicit coupling through shared databases, file systems, message queues, or runtime assumptions that aren't captured in the dependency graph.
How much have module, service, or layer boundaries eroded over time? Rate higher if abstractions leak, if services directly access each other's data stores, or if what should be internal details are exposed across boundaries.
Assessment Dimensions (cont.)
Continue rating each dimension below
How reliable and useful is your test suite? Rate higher if tests are frequently skipped or ignored, if test coverage has declined, if flaky tests erode confidence, or if tests pass but don't catch real bugs.
How much have environments drifted from their intended configurations? Consider whether production, staging, and development environments have diverged, whether configuration is managed consistently, and whether 'works on my machine' is a common phrase.
How far behind are your dependencies, frameworks, and runtime versions? Consider the gap between current and latest versions, whether security patches are applied promptly, and how painful upgrades have become due to accumulated lag.
How outdated is your technical documentation? Rate higher if architecture diagrams show a system that no longer exists, if READMEs describe deprecated processes, or if runbooks reference infrastructure that has changed.