We're using 'management' as a standin for 'business requirements' here, at least in the most cases I've seen that lead to accumulation of 'debt'. These things

We're using 'management' as a standin for 'business requirements' here, at least in the most cases I've seen that lead to accumulation of 'debt'. These things generally start with, "We need feature X for customer Y in Z days.". Engineers dive in, and then comments start popping up - usually variations on a theme: "This is a mess, but it works for now - we'll come back later and clean it up." The unhealthy process that leads to that is a different discussion. But as engineers, our responsibility is to be aware that it's a reality, and work within those constraints. Yes, there will be time/resource/budget limitations. No, we're not going to fix that overnight. But knowing it going in, we can take a closer look at some of those 'good enough for now' decisions, and do our best to not produce dog shit. Sometimes dog shit can't be avoided, but if the pattern above is the normal way of doing business in a company, engineers do have the ability (and responsibility) to do the best they can within those constraints. Often that means pausing and saying, "I know this is going to come back and bite us, what can we do now to make it better?"