---
title: "Zero Tech Debt: Building a High-Standards Engineering Culture in the Age of AI at Tech Connect (2025)"
source: "/speaks/zero-tech-debt-building-a-tech-connect-may-2025/"
---

Speech

# Zero Tech Debt: Building a High-Standards Engineering Culture in the Age of AI

Sam Kirchmeier & Matt Schraan

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.

## Presented by

Sam Kirchmeier

VP, Engineering

[More from Sam](/team/sam-kirchmeier/)

Sam Kirchmeier

Matt Schraan

VP, Product Management

[More from Matt](/team/matt-schraan/)

Matt Schraan

## About Livefront

Livefront builds intelligent products, platforms, and agents for the world's most admired companies. Partner with us to move faster, think bigger, and drive material business outcomes with AI.

### Tags

[Digital Engineering](/insights/all/?topic=digital-engineering) [Strategy & Product](/insights/all/?topic=strategy-product)

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