# Tracking OpenMRS Platform Tech Debt **URL:** \ **Category:** Development\ **Tags:** platform, tac\ **Created:** [May 5, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365 "2021-05-05T21:26:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grace](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/grace/32/16942_2.png) [@grace](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/grace)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365/1 "2021-05-05T21:26:49Z")
Several times a week, people mention ideas or concerns to me that sound like tech debt we should be tracking and prioritizing. So: How have we tended to track & prioritize OpenMRS’ backend tech debt? i.e. do we have a spreadsheet somewhere? Are we relying on a particular label in Jira? If we don’t have a clear strategy - what would you find useful? @dkayiwa @burke @ibacher @mogoodrich @mseaton @cintiadr @ssmusoke @mksd any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![ssmusoke](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/ssmusoke/32/8020_2.png) [@ssmusoke](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/ssmusoke)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 10:09pm UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365/2 "2021-05-05T22:09:40Z")
@grace You could help by putting those ideas/issues into a Google Doc so that we can get a sense of what you are getting so that we can advise better IMO Technical debt should be tracked with just a label in JIRA, nothing more since its still work to be done ---
**Author:** ![grace](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/grace/32/16942_2.png) [@grace](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/grace)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365/3 "2021-05-05T23:07:38Z")
> [@ssmusoke](#): > > You could help by putting those ideas/issues into a Google Doc so that we can get a sense of what you are getting so that we can advise better 😍 Glad you asked! I’ve been trying to keep track of some of these lately here: [Backend-Related Feedback - Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VrXZs8LW49TRTPej3uoa_OPMz8wHvMOk-C3roIJWNhs/edit?usp=sharing) Attempted to group by theme but I may have misunderstood a few. > [@ssmusoke](#): > > IMO Technical debt should be tracked with just a label in JIRA, nothing more since its still work to be done This makes sense to me too. So a label or component something like “tech-debt”. Minor caveat that stuff that sits around in Jira without getting attention would end up as being flagged as Graveyard Candidates during our ~quarterly Graveyard initiatives, but that’s not a bad thing; it would force us to regularly decide if any elderly tech debt tickets need to be Graveyarded or re-prioritized. Which is what the Graveyard initiatives do for tickets in general, tech debt or not. (BTW Have I ever mentioned how grateful I am to you @ssmusoke for your past idea of the “Graveyard” name and your support in setting those up?!) ---
**Author:** ![ssmusoke](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/ssmusoke/32/8020_2.png) [@ssmusoke](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/ssmusoke)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 6:47am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365/4 "2021-05-06T06:47:37Z")
> [@grace](#): > > Minor caveat that stuff that sits around in Jira without getting attention would end up as being flagged as Graveyard Candidates during our ~quarterly Graveyard initiatives, but that’s not a bad thing; it would force us to regularly decide if any elderly tech debt tickets need to be Graveyarded or re-prioritized. Exactly, technical debt, new features and issues are all the same so we have to look for opportunities to re-evaluate them regularly > [@grace](#): > > (BTW Have I ever mentioned how grateful I am to you @ssmusoke for your past idea of the “Graveyard” name and your support in setting those up?!) You are welcome @grace sad that it had to be such an ominous concept but it has value ---
**Author:** ![cintiadr](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/cintiadr/32/8081_2.png) [@cintiadr](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/cintiadr)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 10:21am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365/5 "2021-05-08T10:21:35Z")
Would we consider here tech debt for the OpenMRS application itself or other things from the community infrastructure? If anything, the infra tech debt is something I maintain mostly in my head and random ad-hoc comments, I never really wrote it down 🙃 … not intentionally, mind you. I just never thought about it. I’d prefer it in confluence pages, as it’s easier for me to write things down there and search for it later. ---
**Author:** ![ssmusoke](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/ssmusoke/32/8020_2.png) [@ssmusoke](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/ssmusoke)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 5:47pm UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365/6 "2021-05-08T17:47:36Z")
@cintiadr You are so right that is tech debt too, not just the application itself, as the infrastructure is probably one of the most critical aspects of the community operations I suspect there is a project to which the issues can be added as and when you run into them so that they are tracked and managed over time to give visibility into the infra gaps ---
**Author:** ![dkayiwa](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/dkayiwa/32/179_2.png) [@dkayiwa](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/dkayiwa)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 7:25am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365/7 "2021-05-09T07:25:03Z")
@ssmusoke do you mean the ITSM Jira project? ---
**Author:** ![grace](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/grace/32/16942_2.png) [@grace](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/grace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/tracking-openmrs-platform-tech-debt/33365/8 "2021-05-12T15:56:05Z")
FWIW @cintiadr I had this in mind as well. If you find a confluence page easier to get the thoughts out of your head, go for it, and I can turn these into Jira issues in ITSM for you.