I rarely think tech debt is actually technical debt, that would imply it’s totally down to a technical decision when most of the time we make technical decision

I rarely think tech debt is actually technical debt, that would imply it’s totally down to a technical decision when most of the time we make technical decisions based on real business requirements that were appropriate at that time. For example, as a business why would you make an application with perfect and ideal code before proving that there’s a market for it. It’s akin premature optimisation. I also think it’s a poor choice of wording because debt has negative connotations and instead should really be thought of as a business decision, that once the product starts to mature, the mortgage will need to be paid off. If it was truly a debt, then surely for it to be financially viable there would need to be an equal credit somewhere, however this is never mentioned. It’s more like picking the right tool for the job at the right scale. If you want to dig a hole in your garden a normal spade will do just fine, if you want to dig foundations for a building, you might need something a bit more. You can still use a spade or many spades or perhaps you can pay for a digger. It’s a trade off.