We’ve all been there. You ship something fast. It works. Everyone’s happy.

Then six months later, you're waist-deep in spaghetti code, wondering how this "quick win" turned into a long-term liability.

Here’s the thing no one wants to admit:

Speed means nothing if you’re paying it back in tech debt later.

The Velocity Trap

In modern dev culture, we love metrics. Velocity, time to market, story points per sprint. But we rarely talk about what happens after. The stuff that doesn’t show up in your sprint report: refactors, fragile integrations, rewrites because the data model can’t keep up.

That’s where ROI dies.

It’s not that your feature didn’t deliver value—it’s that it wasn’t designed to survive beyond the initial applause.

When “Low Code” Becomes “Locked-In”

Let’s talk platforms for a second. Some of them are great at helping you go fast… at first. But then you hit the ceiling.

• You can’t add a new data field without rebuilding half the app.
• You’re locked into their weird internal logic.
• The integration story is a black box.
• You start writing “workarounds” for the platform. That’s never a good sign.

That’s not ROI. That’s debt in disguise.

How We’re Doing It Differently at Lonti

We built Lonti because we were tired of fast prototypes that couldn’t go to production.

We wanted low code that could handle real requirements—without forcing us to throw away control. Something that actually respected how devs build.

And yeah, we might be biased. But we also use it ourselves. Every day.

💡 Martini

It’s the backbone—API integration and automation.

Visual where you want it. Code where you need it.

Want to drag-and-drop an API flow? Go for it.

Need to inject some Java, Groovy, or custom logic? You’ve got the keys.

💡 Negroni

This is how you stop reinventing your data layer.

Model once, publish as clean, reusable APIs.

And yes, you can actually change things later without a full rewrite.

💡 Bellini

Frontend that doesn’t suck.

Drag-and-drop and write custom JavaScript.

Use your own components, styles, libraries—no weird vendor markup.

Real ROI = Stuff You Don’t Have to Rebuild

Every hour you’re not debugging brittle logic, rewriting a service, or explaining to a new dev “why we did it this way” is actual ROI.

That’s the kind of return that scales.

So yeah, speed is important. But if you’re still rewriting workflows six months after launch, you didn’t go fast—you just went in circles.

TL;DR

• Technical debt is the silent killer of ROI.
• Platforms that prioritize “shipping now” without thinking about “scaling later” aren’t worth your time.
• Low code isn’t the problem—bad low code is.

Original source: You Can’t Measure ROI if You’re Drowning in Technical Debt