Where do you record Technical Debt in TFS?

Question

I'd like to find a way to record the Technical Debt we incur in TFS.

I need to record each item outside of a specific iteration to ensure that it is visible and easily-reported all the time. I've considered creating a separate Area for technical debt, but am unsure how well-suited that field actually is.

What are some common approaches that I might consider? Am I even barking up the right tree by trying to find a right place to put this?

Answer 1

I haven't found a need to track it separately; I just enter it as additional tasks. That way, they can be easily tracked and reported.

Answer 2

I find that there are several types of technical debt: Debt you know about and can track until fixed, and debt that becomes apparent as the result of an unexpected bug. I like to track the outstanding known technical debt in a separate Iteration I call 'Maintenance Backlog', under the area 'Technical Debt'. I can then link relevant bugs from ANY iteration to the Technical Debt area, while still tracking issues I cant resolve yet. The key is you still need bugs associated with the iteration they are found and fixed in and linked to the originating requirements for reporting purposes etc.