This is my preferred way of thinking about it too. I wouldn't say debt in general is universally bad, and so I wouldn't say the same thing about technical debt

This is my preferred way of thinking about it too. I wouldn't say debt in general is universally bad, and so I wouldn't say the same thing about technical debt either. Technical debt can save a company by pushing something forward and launching a product sooner than a competitor. It can save a big customer by fixing a bug for them quickly that if not fixed immediately would have caused them to cancel a multimillion dollar contract. It can also eat away at a company if you let it accrue for decades and never pay it down.