Technical Debt: An Analytical Approach|Focus Retreat Center

What is it?

This retreat will be lead in person by Chelsea Troy, and focus on developing skills around

Reducing Technical Debt
Code Stewardship

Chart a course for your team out of tech debt chaos! Learn to measure tech debt, prioritize the areas of highest need, and identify high leverage code changes. Then, build skills that you and your tech team can use to prevent and reduce tech debt.

You will develop a more complete and nuanced understanding of technical debt through its full lifecycle. You will practice code stewardship skills including:

Writing Discoverable Code
Writing Flexible Code
Documenting Code
Context Transfer

Chelsea is a powerhouse educator and her approach teaches enduring technical skills that are based on principles and not tied to langues or versions.

Chelsea Troy headshot

Why should I participate?

It's going to be super fun! You'll get to learn in an immersive setting - to engage deeply with the material without rushing. Chelsea will be here providing detailed guidance through all the workshops and exercises. You'll develop skills that will make your job more enjoyable by fixing the unpleasant parts of the systems you work in. You'll meet other engineers who are motivated to leave their projects better than they found them. You'll visit a lovely wilderness area, make new friends, and enjoy a restorative retreat.

What should I expect at Focus Retreat Center?

The best way to understand what we are about, whether it's what you need, and what your daily experience here will be like is to check out these pages:

One of Chelsea's abstract paintings

What are the dates?

We are planning for a 1-week retreat April 2023, but exact dates are not yet finalized. This retreat is being planned in a phased approach. We will gauge interest with email first, then a small refundable deposit, then proceeding with full ticket sales.

➡Phase 1: Initial Outreach and Interest Gathering
- We are in this phase currently, January 2023
- Chelsea and FRC will promote the retreat, answer questions, and gather feedback
- As the number of interested people crosses a threshold, we'll move to Phase 2
- Folks can indicate interest with an email and there's no commitment associated with this.
Phase 2: Reservations
- Once we have a critical mass of interested people, we can…
  - Finalize the proposed dates
  - Start accepting reservations. This will be in the form of a refundable deposit.
  - The retreat is still tentative in this phase. Deposits will be fully refunded if the retreat does not happen. Do not book travel yet in this phase.
Phase 3: Book the retreat
- As sufficient ticket reservation deposits are made, the retreat will be formally booked.
- Reservations will be able to be confirmed to full event tickets by paying the remaining ticket price balance.
- General ticket sales will open for any seats still available.
- Book travel. Details on travel to FRC are here.

How much does it cost?

Pricing is not yet finalized but we aim to ensure the retreat is financially accessible to as many guests as possible while also being sustainable for FRC to operate. We are generally able to keep our costs for combined food and lodging below what a typical hotel or airbnb stay would cost for lodging alone. If your employer will count the retreat as Professional Development and cover costs or count it as a work trip to save your PTO, that's great!

OK I'm interested. Now what?

Put your email address below and we'll mark you down as interested in this retreat.

There is no commitment associated with this. OK if you are just curious.
We'll send you an invite to slack where there's a channel about this retreat
You'll work with the group to refine the retreat experience and plans
We'll announce as the event progresses to the next phase