Switching to microservices often helps companies to reduce growing technical debt. However, after a while it comes with new challenges that need to be addressed properly. Learn how to deal with dependencies and technical debt in microservices architecture.
A QUICK SUMMARY – FOR THE BUSY ONES
It's hard to identify technical debt in microservices due to complex interdependencies and diverse technologies and frameworks. However, we can distinct 3 most common causes of technical debt in microservices architecture:
There are a few methods of managing technical debt, among them:
Scroll down to learn more about reducing tech debt in microservices and preventing problems.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
One of the solutions that can help to deal with technical debt is transitioning from a monolithic architecture to a microservices architecture. While this transition offers benefits such as enhanced scalability and resilience, it also introduces new challenges that must be addressed. How to manage technical debt in microservices?
One of the methods of reducing technical debt is transitioning from a monolithic architecture to microservices. The main reason behind this move is the challenge of modifying large, monolithic structures. Adopting a microservices approach is much more pragmatic, as refactoring a monolith into a modular architecture enables the creation of smaller components. This move makes it easier to implement and refactor components, ultimately mitigating the accumulation of technical debt and helping to pay it off.
Microservices help to:
However, the solution is not perfect and obviously has its drawbacks. Although it’s a recommended method, it doesn’t leave the software completely debt-free and might still accumulate some flaws after the migration. Additionally, it comes with new challenges and risks such as:
Identifying technical debt in a microservices architecture presents unique challenges compared to traditional monolithic applications due to several factors inherent in the distributed nature of microservices.
Overly complex or poorly designed communication mechanisms between services (e.g., excessive synchronous calls, improper use of messaging queues) can lead to tight coupling, increased latency, and reliability issues, contributing to technical debt.
Incorrectly defined microservice boundaries that lead to either too much granularity (leading to chattiness and latency issues) or too large services (resulting in monolithic blocks within a microservices architecture) can accrue technical debt by making the system harder to maintain and scale.
Insufficient or inappropriate infrastructure and tooling for deployment, monitoring, and scaling can lead to operational difficulties and limitations, contributing to technical debt by hindering efficient development and operation practices.
Now, let’s delve into the details on how to solve technical debt in microservices.
Whether you've already migrated to microservices or are still in the planning stage, it's crucial to understand the risks and techniques for keeping technical debt in check.
Microservice architecture can complicate the identification of technical debt, indeed. You must thoroughly understand how all these modules function to detect technical debt and related issues swiftly and effectively.
So, how to identify and minimize technical debt in microservices? Here are some tips and best practices from our software development experts:
In a microservice environment, each service represents a distinct functionality. To ensure easy maintenance and updates in such architecture, it's essential to ensure that each unit is robust and scalable. This approach simplifies the identification of flaws and their origins. Additionally, it is crucial to minimize dependencies between components and get a solid understanding of the architecture’s structure.
Implementing feature toggles (or feature flags) can significantly simplify the configuration of microservices. It enables selective enabling and disabling of features without the need to redeploy the entire system. This approach also facilitates easier identification of problematic features, as you can clearly see which component is the source of the issue.
Another valuable practice is automated testing. This approach aids in identifying flaws and bugs and preventing them from accumulating as technical debt without significant human involvement.
Regular code reviews should serve as the base for maintaining and updating code in a way that identifies and mitigates technical debt. Conducting reviews regularly helps to fix issues as they arise, and prevent the accumulation of debt over time when it becomes more costly to fix. Thus, it is recommended to become a common practice within your development team.
Another effective method is performing canary releases. This involves deploying the latest version of code to a small group of users before releasing it to the broader market. This approach allows for thorough testing of the code to ensure it is functional and bug-free before reaching a larger audience.
Creating a set of guidelines for addressing and resolving issues can be a handy tool in the technical debt management process. This policy should be communicated to all team members involved, ensuring they understand it and are able to comply and contribute. The collaborative effort fosters awareness of the issue and clarifies the necessary steps in reducing technical debt.
Adopting an agile approach to development and implementing standards such as DevOps or CI/CD are instrumental in maintaining high software development standards and monitoring the software's condition. Through frequent iterations and immediate bug fixing, these practices facilitate the cultivation of a quality-first coding culture.
A primary cause of technical debt is the use or upkeep of outdated technologies. Swiftly adopting the latest technologies and integrating them into your environment can prevent the accumulation of debt over time and ensure your software remains modern. This prepares your code for easier and faster improvements.
To put it simply, technical debt refers to the decline in code quality that occurs over time. This happens for a few general reasons:
If we don’t address these issues early on, they pile up and cause numerous issues, such as decreased performance, prolonged development cycles, increased maintenance costs, bugs, difficulties with further code development, and other challenges. Then, it is crucial to solve them on a regular basis as soon as they are detected.
Technical debt is a serious issue that poses risks not only to code quality but to the entire business. It slows development, lowers developer morale and productivity, introduces security vulnerabilities, raises the number of bugs, decreases user satisfaction, diminishes competitive advantage, and more. Moreover, it boosts both development and software maintenance costs.
That's why reducing and paying off technical debt is essential in every software development project. The longer you delay or ignore it, the more damage it can inflict on your software and business. If you aim to expand your product seamlessly, align tech and business strategies, and maintain a satisfying pace of software delivery, reducing technical debt must be your top priority.
If you require assistance in reducing technical debt in microservices, don't hesitate to contact us. As experts in legacy app modernization, we will provide you with guidance on the optimal strategies for migrating from monolith to modular architecture and tackling the challenge of technical debt.
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