Balancing client demands with technical debt is all about discipline and visibility. I make sure tech debt isn’t invisible — we treat it like any other deliverable and add it to the backlog with clear impact statements. Then, during sprint planning, I push for a balanced roadmap: ideally 70-80% features, 20-30% technical health. If that’s not possible, we bundle small refactors into feature work or refactor parts of the system we’re already touching. This way, we reduce debt without slowing down delivery. Communication with clients is also key — I help them understand that reducing tech debt actually speeds up feature delivery over time.

I treat technical debt as a first-class citizen in the product roadmap. I partner closely with product to highlight the risks of ignoring debt—slower delivery, lower quality, and long-term scalability issues. Once there’s shared understanding, we make intentional trade-offs, prioritizing debt work alongside new features. It’s not an either/or—it’s about balancing immediate value with long-term velocity.

As CEO at Capnis Infotech, I see technical debt as a strategic risk, not just a developer concern. We balance it with new feature delivery by aligning engineering efforts with long-term business goals. Every sprint includes time for refactoring, and we maintain transparency with clients about the value of clean code. This builds trust and avoids future bottlenecks. We’ve also fostered a culture where the team takes ownership of code quality. It’s not always easy, but with the right mindset and communication, we manage it effectively.

Balancing client demands for new features with technical debt requires a strategic approach and practices. In my experience, I tackled this by: Prioritizing Debt: Track technical debt in a backlog, categorizing issues by severity/priority and dedicating 20% of sprint time to high-priority fixes to minimize feature delays. Automate Efficiently: Automate repetitive tests with automation tools saving manual effort to focus on debt reduction. Communicate Value: Quantify debt impact in Agile meetings to justify a balanced feature-debt approach.