You are the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a rapidly growing startup.  Your company&#8217;s success hinges on delivering innovative features quickly, but you&#8217;re acutely aware of the dangers of accumulating technical debt.  You need to proactively prevent it from derailing your progress.  For a 500-word article aimed at fellow CTOs and engineering leaders, write a detailed strategy outlining your approach to tech debt avoidance.  Your strategy should include:</p>
<p>* **Prioritization Framework:** Detail a system for prioritizing features, considering technical complexity, business value, and long-term maintainability.  Include specific examples of how you would use this framework to make tough decisions.<br />
* **Code Quality Assurance:** Describe your approach to ensuring high code quality from the outset.  This should include coding standards, code reviews, automated testing, and any other relevant measures. Provide concrete examples of how these measures would be implemented.<br />
* **Architectural Design:** Explain your architectural choices and how they contribute to minimizing future tech debt.  Address issues like scalability, maintainability, and extensibility. Include examples of architectural patterns you&#8217;d favor and why.<br />
* **Documentation and Knowledge Sharing:** Detail your strategy for ensuring thorough documentation and effective knowledge sharing within the engineering team.  This should include processes for documenting code, design decisions, and technical knowledge.<br />
* **Refactoring and Maintenance:** Outline a plan for addressing inevitable minor tech debt that accumulates over time.  Include a process for identifying, prioritizing, and resolving these issues without disrupting ongoing development.<br />
* **Technology Stack Selection:** Describe your criteria for selecting technologies, emphasizing long-term support, community support, and the avoidance of niche or quickly-obsolete technologies. Give specific examples of technology choices that would align with your strategy.<br />
* **Team Culture:** Describe how you foster a culture of proactive tech debt avoidance within your engineering team.  This includes promoting best practices, encouraging open communication, and empowering engineers to make responsible technical decisions.</p>
<p>The article should be written in a clear, concise, and engaging style, suitable for publication on a technology blog or industry publication.  Focus on practical advice and real-world examples to illustrate your points.