Speech
Zero Tech Debt: Building a High-Standards Engineering Culture in the Age of AI
May 7, 2025
About the talk
Have you ever inherited a codebase so full of mixed concerns, bloat, and untested code that you couldn’t help but wonder “who are the developers responsible for this spaghetti code hellscape?” While it may be convenient and even cathartic to blame the faceless, nameless developers responsible for creating the debt-ridden mess you’ve inherited, the better question to ask is “what is the engineering culture that allowed this to happen?” The truth is, technical debt is less often the result of individual incompetence and more often the result of the engineering culture from which it was allowed to spread. Now, in the age of AI, the stakes are even higher. As AI systems promise to do more and more of the coding for us, how do we as technology leaders ensure this technology is being used to mitigate the problem of technical debt instead of exacerbate it? We’ll dive into the practical habits and norms of engineering teams that don’t defer work, avoid technical debt, and hold each other accountable to high standards. With the right culture, you can actually make it easy to uphold best practices across your engineering team - even in the age of AI.
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About Livefront
Livefront is a digital product consultancy. We're trusted by some of the world's most admired companies to drive strategy, design, and engineering for their core digital experiences. They partner with us to move faster, think bigger, and design products people love.
