Technical Debt vs. Mortgage: A Data Science Homeowner’s Guide

(I used chatGPT to help me make the written content more “engaging” and “LinkedIn-like”, so keeping the 2 versions below for comparison purpose.)


[ChatGPT rewritten version]

Building a minimal viable product (MVP) in data science is like buying your first home with the maximum mortgage.

It’s often necessary to move quickly and show business value (aka “get a place to live in”), but in doing so, we often accumulate a mountain of technical debt—just like a hefty mortgage.

But here’s the thing: While you’re using the data science product (or living comfortably in your home), don’t forget to pay down that technical debt—just like you wouldn’t skip your mortgage payments!

Sure, you might get by without addressing it for a while, but trust me, no one wants to be hit with a foreclosure notice or an unmanageable pile of tech debt later on.

The key takeaway? Keep building, but always have a plan to pay it down. Your future self will thank you!


[Original version]

Building a minimal viable product in data science is like buying your first home using maximum mortgage.

It is often a necessity to do this to show business values (get a place to live in) fast, which means accumulating a huge amount of technical debt (mortgage) along the way.

However we should not forget that while using the data science product (or living in your home), it is important to pay down the technical debt (mortgage) periodically.

While it may be possible to get away from paying down the technical debt for quite some time, but I would definitely not recommend anyone skipping on their mortgage payment!

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