The Cost of Bad Code
The Cost of Bad Code 관련
To explain this stack bar graph, in the initial development phase, bad code is slightly more costly to change than clean code.
But as we move into the maintenance and refactoring phases, the gap widens significantly, with bad code costing nearly twice as much as clean code.
By the legacy phase, bad code reaches 100% cost – now it’s extremely expensive to update, while clean code remains more manageable at 45%.
As of now, the most recent analysis on the cost of poor software quality in the U.S. is the 2022 report by the Consortium for Information and Software Quality (cisq.org). This report estimates that poor software quality cost the U.S. economy at least $2.41 trillion in 2022, with technical debt accounting for about $1.52 trillion of this amount.
You can read more about that here.
Recent discussions continue to highlight the significant impact of technical debt on software quality and business performance.
For instance, a 2024 survey indicated that for more than 50% of companies, technical debt accounts for greater than a quarter of their total IT budget. And this can really hinder innovation if it’s not addressed.
As you can see, there’s no doubt that bad code is a costly problem in software development.