Understanding Technical Debt

Like financial debt, technical debt can be a powerful tool or a crippling burden. The difference lies in intentionality.

Taking on technical debt to meet a critical deadline is a valid business decision—as long as you acknowledge it, document it, and have a plan to pay it back. The danger comes when debt accumulates unintentionally, when shortcuts become the norm, and when the interest compounds until the codebase becomes unmaintainable.