Forensic Debt Quantification

🎯 When You Use This Skill

State explicitly: "Using forensic-debt-quantification formulas"

Then follow these steps:

1. Apply the research-backed cost formulas (see below)
2. Cite specific multipliers (2-3x, 4-9x from Microsoft/Google research)
3. Use conservative estimates and provide ranges (not false precision)
4. Translate to business language (avoid jargon like "cyclomatic complexity")
5. Calculate ROI for proposed refactoring investments
6. Provide opportunity cost (features not built due to debt)

Overview

Technical debt quantification translates code metrics into business language. Instead of "high cyclomatic complexity," explain "this costs us $120K/year in wasted developer time." This skill provides research-backed formulas for calculating the business impact of technical debt.

Core principle: Technical debt has measurable costs - productivity loss, defect risk, coordination overhead, and opportunity cost. Quantify these to make informed investment decisions.