I am not thrilled about this, but it isn’t the end of the world. Google has ended its link shortener. Google is also not letting anyone new access their Google+ API. It seems to me that Google is trying to reduce its tech debt.

First thing first. What is tech debt? Tech debt is when you build something so you are now responsible for keeping up with it. You owe it to your customers and users to make sure the thing you promised them would work a certain way, continues to work. If you tell customers you are going to have $5 burgers every Wednesday you will be expected to have that. If you decide to stop doing that, you have to figure out a good way to let your customers know. You should also expect to make some angry or even lose a couple. That sounds bad but it is possibly a good thing. Maybe you are losing customers that take more then they give. I am sure Google has analyzed the link shortener and the people using are not people the people spending big bucks. In the hamburger promotion, maybe the point is to get people to come in and try your food and hopefully come back other days, but if you notice they don’t then the only customers you are losing are the ones getting cheap burgers.

This logic applies to your business as well. If you build an app or website there is going to be tech dept. Plugins need updating, PHP might need to be updated, servers changed over, new documentation for API’s you are using are released and adjustments needs to be made. This is an important part of keeping your business running and having a good team behind you analyzing when certain tech debt needs to be prioritized. Some tech debt might be a loss leader and that is ok, but other tech debt might just be a loss. It is important to figure this out and make sure you are investing in the right places.

If you are looking for some advice feel free to reach out. If you need help with a new link shortener, we can help with that too.