Achieving balance in anything is not easy. For example, having a balanced diet to maintain a healthy body is not that easy… bad habits and/or bad environment could easily derail it.
The same is true when we are developing Software solutions: there must be a heathy balance between the different types of work.
Example, in the ART Backlog, a balanced Capacity Allocation must be achieved between Features and Enablers (i.e., Architectural work) and Technical Debt.
Technical Debt is the difference between what was promised to be delivered and what was under-delivered… under-delivered for whatever reason (i.e., corners were cut to meet a deadline… resulting a sub-par system).
Gardening Analogy of this balancing act: plant new flowers (new Features), till the soil and plan the garden (Enablers), and root-out weeds (Technical Debt).
You do not want Technical Debt to grow unwieldy.. you must manage this… get this under control, otherwise it could choke the whole system… as a result, can slowdown Value Delivery, slowdown Flow Velocity and negatively impacts Flow Predictability.
You can use a Flow Distribution Area Diagram to see the Flow Distribution of these different types of work… so you can adjust things to balance these out accordingly.
Just like in life, where balanced Diet is key and balanced Work-Life is key to a great health; a balanced Capacity Allocation, for both current and future velocity, is key to a healthy system.
