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What's interesting is that tech debt is already a metaphor. You can take out a loan to be able to move faster and earn more, but you will need to pay interest,
by Vinnl 6y ago
What's interesting is that tech debt is already a metaphor. You can take out a loan to be able to move faster and earn more, but you will need to pay interest, and at some point that will drag you down if you do not repay it.
- edmundsauto 6y agoFinancial literacy is sadly fairly low, so it's not surprising to me that the loan metaphor doesn't immediately reach intuition.
- jimbokun 6y agoIn the video linked in the article, Ward Cunningham says he came up with the debt metaphor to explain to the finance guys he was working with.
- ironmagma 6y agoNot a sufficient one though, because debt has to be paid off, whereas technical debt is much easier to ditch by doing a rewrite, suffering unmeasured business outcomes, etc.
- smallnamespace 6y agoNo, debt does not need to be paid off, it can be continually rolled forward, as long as someone is willing to provide you credit. When a government or a corporation has bonds due, it normally pays off the principal by selling new bonds. The analogy with technical debt is honestly pretty good. As your creditworthiness declines, the cost renewing debt increases as creditors demand higher and higher interest rates.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]