# Tackling your tech debt with Copilot coding agent Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LafpndhNC_E Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/LafpndhNC_E Generated: 2025-11-15T14:35:42.333+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview Brittany Elich from GitHub details how to effectively tackle technical debt using GitHub Copilot Coding Agent by employing the WRAP methodology: Write effective issues, Repository instructions, Atomic tasks, and Pairing with the agent, which ultimately transforms overwhelming tech debt mountains into manageable terrain. **Key Points:** - GitHub's Brittany Elich presented a strategy for managing tech debt using Copilot Coding Agent to turn 'Tech Debt Mountains' into 'Managed Terrain'. - The WRAP methodology for backlog management includes: Write effective issues, add Repository instructions, break work into Atomic tasks, and Pair with the coding agent. - Effective issues should have descriptive titles and include ample context, such as examples of desired changes, to guide Copilot. - Repository instructions allow engineers to specify how Copilot should interact with the application context, which is often too large to fit into issue prompts. - The speaker notes that humans excel at understanding 'why,' navigating ambiguity, and cross-system thinking, while Copilot excels at expanding patterns, tireless execution, and exploring possibilities. - An example demonstrated creating comprehensive tests for a button component, which took Copilot 8-10 minutes, saving the engineer significant time. - The long-term goal is to intentionally schedule large blocks of development time for tech debt work, allowing engineers to focus on strategic planning instead of constantly reacting to inherited debt. ![Screenshot at 00:59: The agenda slide outlines the three main sections of the talk: the problem with tech debt management, introducing the tech debt elimination accelerator \(Copilot\), and building a sustainable tech debt strategy.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-00-59.png) **Context:** The presentation by Brittany Elich, Senior Software Engineer at GitHub, focuses on strategies for proactively managing technical debt, which often gets neglected in favor of new feature development. Elich frames the challenge as overcoming 'Tech Debt Mountains' that slow velocity and demotivate engineers. She introduces a structured approach, leveraging GitHub Copilot Coding Agent as a powerful tool to accelerate the remediation of this debt by handling repetitive and detailed tasks. ## Detailed Analysis Brittany Elich advocates for a sustainable strategy to manage technical debt by treating it proactively rather than reactively. She highlights the common problem where feature work always wins over tech debt because tech debt tasks are often tedious and lack immediate business value, leading to engineers avoiding them and debt accumulating into unmanageable 'mountains.' To combat this, Elich introduces the WRAP methodology for organizing the backlog: Write effective issues, add Repository instructions, break tasks into Atomic chunks, and Pair with the Copilot coding agent. Writing effective issues involves providing descriptive titles and including comprehensive context, such as code examples, to ensure the agent understands the desired outcome. Repository instructions allow engineers to provide context about their specific application and development preferences once, so the agent uses this context automatically for subsequent tasks. This division of labor leverages human strengths (understanding 'why,' ambiguity, cross-system thinking) and Copilot's strengths (tireless execution, pattern expansion). Elich demonstrated that using Copilot for tasks like generating comprehensive test suites can take minutes compared to hours for manual work, freeing up engineers to focus on high-value strategic work. ### Introduction - The Problem with Tech Debt Management: Tech debt accumulates because features always win over debt repayment; this leads to slowdowns, fragility, and eventually a 'cliff' where rewriting from scratch is suggested. ### The Tech Debt Elimination Accelerator (Copilot) - Introducing Copilot Coding Agent as an always-available, tireless assistant eager to tackle boring tasks like writing tests or updating documentation. ### WRAP Up Your Backlog - The strategy involves 1. Write effective issues (with context/examples) - 2. Add Repository instructions (for context) - 3. Break large tasks into Atomic tasks - 4. Pair with the coding agent. ### Human vs. Agent Strengths - Humans excel at understanding 'why,' navigating ambiguity, and cross-system thinking; the Coding Agent excels at expanding patterns, tireless execution, repetitive tasks, and exploring possibilities. ### Building a Sustainable Strategy - Intentionally schedule development time for tech debt triage, review PRs, and tackling large blocks of debt, making the process less painful by using the agent for repetitive tasks. ![Screenshot at 00:03: GitHub Universe 25 event branding and dates \(Oct 28-29, 2025, San Francisco & Virtual\).](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-00-03.png) ![Screenshot at 00:11: The presentation title slide: 'Tackling your tech debt with Copilot coding agent' featuring Brittany Elich.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-00-11.png) ![Screenshot at 00:59: The agenda slide listing the three main topics to be covered in the presentation.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-00-59.png) ![Screenshot at 01:21: Slide illustrating 'The Tech Debt Graveyard' showing how debt issues linger, with one item aging 365 days.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-01-21.png) ![Screenshot at 01:44: Cartoon illustrating the tug-of-war where 'Feature work' constantly pulls ahead of 'Tech debt' because features win.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-01-44.png) ![Screenshot at 03:19: Slide introducing the Copilot coding agent as a new accelerator: always available, never tired, and eager to tackle boring tasks.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-03-19.png) ![Screenshot at 03:59: Transition to the demonstration phase, showing a Google Slides presentation on the screen.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-03-59.png) ![Screenshot at 04:23: Demonstration of creating a GitHub issue and assigning it to Copilot, showing the prompt structure.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-04-23.png) ![Screenshot at 05:05: Screenshot of a GitHub Pull Request showing Copilot's detailed analysis and generated code changes.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-05-05.png) ![Screenshot at 08:11: Slide detailing the WRAP acronym for managing the backlog: Write effective issues, Repository instructions, Atomic tasks, Pair with the coding agent.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/LafpndhNC_E/00-08-11.png)