Continuous incremental repayment
Improving the structure of code in small, behaviour-preserving steps as part of ordinary work, in the areas being changed anyway, plus a standing share of capacity for the highest-interest debt elsewhere. It replaces a separate rewrite.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
Every change to an area with known debt; the standing debt share; the answer to "later".
Where it stops working
Repaying debt where you touch the code only repays what is touched. Debt in the areas everyone avoids needs the standing share, aimed deliberately.
Where the standard uses it
- TJ-2Technical debtRecognising, quantifying, and scheduling repayment.
Sources
- Martin Fowler. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (Second Edition). Addison-Wesley, 2018. In the bibliography
Used alongside it
- Debt as interest practice
- Elevation to business risk practice
- Systemic risk signals practice
- The technical-debt quadrant practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Continuous incremental repayment. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.continuous-incremental-repayment). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/continuous-incremental-repayment