How does front-end debt grow?

Web engineers are primarily focused on delivering business value, which involves accurately scoping project requirements and estimating completion timelines, though estimation is inherently fallible. Often, engineers underestimate the time needed due to overlooked tasks such as testing and deployment, leading to rushed work and the accumulation of technical debt. This debt can make codebases complex and difficult to maintain, especially as new technologies emerge and older frameworks become obsolete. However, technical debt can be managed by adopting practices like building a design system, which was successfully implemented by one team transitioning from a legacy Ruby on Rails application to a microservice architecture with React. Despite initial resistance from other teams due to the time needed for foundational work, the design system eventually unified workflow, reduced technical debt, and improved collaboration between design and development, ultimately delivering long-term business value by accelerating front-end development.