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Understanding the Four Quadrants
Reckless & Inadvertent: "What's layering?" - Didn't know better and didn't realize it. Often due to lack of skills or experience.
Reckless & Deliberate: "We don't have time for design" - Knew better but chose shortcuts anyway. Usually driven by deadline pressure.
Prudent & Inadvertent: "Now we know how we should have done it" - Did our best, learned better approach later. Results from emerging best practices.
Prudent & Deliberate: "We must ship now and deal with consequences" - Strategic trade-off with full awareness. Business-driven decisions.
About this framework
This tool is based on Martin Fowler's Technical Debt Quadrant framework (2009), which helps teams classify and prioritize technical debt by understanding both its origin and intent.
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Explore our comprehensive guides on identifying, measuring, and paying down technical debt strategically.