Does technical debt matter in 2026?

Description: If your code is not maintainable - meaning that it's messy, out-of-date, or riddled with technical debt then you're likely going to have a bad time. When you're code is in this state, it's essentially a messy workshop with tools out of place that could pose a real danger. Some people think that AI can navigate codebases so well that having a messy workshop doesn't matter, but remember that even AI starts to lose context. Eventually that AI will step on that rake that was never put away, or bump into the saw that never had its guard installed. Matt thinks it's better to clean up your codebase regardless of whether you're using AI, because there's no real reason to keeping those hazards hanging around. Close description