Measuring tech debt in tokens instead of engineering hours
A new approach suggests measuring technical debt in tokens—units of code complexity and maintainability—rather than traditional engineering hours. This method aims to provide a more objective and quantifiable metric for assessing and prioritizing tech debt across software projects.
Background
A tech startup (Soup) proposes measuring technical debt by counting "tokens" changed in code (additions/deletions) rather than the traditional method of estimating engineering hours or story points. This is contentious because: a) tech debt is notoriously hard to quantify, b) token counts can be gamed (e.g., bloated commits), and c) it ignores cognitive complexity—rewriting 50 lines of cryptic logic may cost more than adding 500 lines of boilerplate. The debate echoes earlier metrics debates in software engineering, such as lines-of-code (LOC) vs. function points vs. developer-days.