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# Resolving technical debts in software architecture

Why do fast-moving software projects inevitably hit a speed wall? Discover how aligning architecture with human cognitive science can eliminate structural debt and permanently restore your team's development velocity.

- **Speakers:** [Carola Lilienthal](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@carola-lilienthal)
- **Event:** World Congress 2025
- **Published:** August 20, 2025
- **Duration:** 24:38
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1680-resolving-technical-debts-in-software-architecture

## Summary

Development teams often begin new software projects with rapid feature delivery, but eventually hit a long-term speed limit as technical debt accumulates into a tangled big ball of mud. This slowdown happens when architectural stabilization is neglected in favor of feature output. Maintaining development velocity requires actively resolving architectural debt during release preparation rather than mounting new structural layers every year to hide legacy code—an anti-pattern resulting in fragile annual rings. To objectively measure structural health, engineering leadership can utilize the Modularity Maturity Index (MMI) to grade software regardless of programming language or system size. By integrating architecture review tools like SonarQube, teams can visualize class cycle dependencies, pinpointing exactly where application layers improperly rely on user interfaces to aggressively reduce system-wide dependencies.\n\nCreating sustainable software architecture inherently depends on aligning code structures with human cognitive science. Because the human brain constantly processes information through chunking, forming hierarchies, and relying on schemas, codebases must accurately mirror these actions to reduce developer cognitive load. Teams should enforce strict modularity and high cohesion to facilitate chunking, eliminate cyclical structural references to build easily mapped hierarchies, and apply design patterns exactly as intended to leverage developers' existing mental schemas. When architectural patterns are used inconsistently to obscure complex database processing, they shatter an engineer's intuitive workflow. Ultimately, establishing clear naming conventions and strictly adhering to the single responsibility principle remain the absolute foundations for escaping technical debt and ensuring scalable domain transformation.

**Keywords:** software architecture technical debt, modularity maturity index MMI, domain driven transformation, big ball of mud anti-pattern, class cycle dependency visualization, cognitive science software engineering, code chunking modularity, software architecture hierarchies, factory design pattern consistency, architecture dependency reduction, sonarqube technical debt metrics, object-oriented loose coupling, technical vs domain layering, legacy code refactoring strategies, single responsibility principle implementation

## Chapters

1. **Impact of technical debt on feature delivery speed** (00:00) — How accumulating unresolved structural issues severely degrades a team's ability to release new software features consistently.
1. **Visualizing entangled source code and dependencies** (04:02) — Mapping tightly coupled modules reveals the fragile structural reality of a big ball of mud architecture.
1. **Measuring software health with the modularity maturity index** (05:58) — Quantifying module maturity helps teams compare large-scale codebases and track dependency improvements over time.
1. **Cognitive limits and the necessity of information chunking** (10:44) — Human brains rely on chunking related information, which directly dictates the necessity for cohesive software modularity.
1. **Applying cognitive schemas to software design patterns** (14:54) — Organizing logic with consistent architectural patterns leverages human cognitive schemas for faster code comprehension.
1. **Evaluating architecture through technical and domain layers** (19:42) — Mapping architectural dependencies across technical and domain layers visibly exposes harmful coupling and structural violations.
1. **Preventing cyclic dependency escalation and continuous architectural decay** (22:24) — Breaking cyclic class structures early prevents continuous codebase deterioration and avoids wrapping existing technical debt in complex new layers.

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