The metaphor and its limits.
WHAT IT IS
The future cost of a decision taken for short-term speed.
WHAT THE METAPHOR CAPTURES
Interest: the ongoing cost of not addressing it
Principal: the cost of addressing it
WHAT IT ORIGINALLY MEANT
A deliberate trade-off, taken knowingly, to be repaid.
WHAT IT IS NOW USED FOR
Anything anyone dislikes about a codebase.
WHY THAT MATTERS
Conflating deliberate compromise with incompetence makes the conversation useless.
WHAT THE USEFUL DISTINCTIONS ARE
- Deliberate and prudent: a conscious trade-off with a plan
- Deliberate and reckless: knowingly poor work with no plan
- Inadvertent and prudent: learning that reveals a better design
- Inadvertent and reckless: not knowing better
WHAT ONLY THE FIRST IS
Debt, properly.
WHAT THE INTEREST LOOKS LIKE
Every change taking longer More defects Longer onboarding Reluctance to touch certain areas
WHY IT MATTERS COMMERCIALLY
It slows delivery, continuously, and compounds.
WHAT TO COMMUNICATE TO NON-TECHNICAL STAKEHOLDERS
The effect on delivery speed, not the technical detail.
