You may choose not to call it technical debt, but you have to call it something, and it seems very much a debt to me. The term you use to describe it doesn't g

You may choose not to call it technical debt, but you have to call it something, and it seems very much a debt to me. The term you use to describe it doesn't get to cast judgement as to the merits of the debt. The debt may be inherited debt from an acquisition, for example. Any judgement you would choose to cast regarding the debt's merits does not necessarily reflect on the current holder of that debt, but the debt is just as real. If I buy your company and you have debt on your books from stupid decisions that did nothing to advance your company, it's still debt that I now owe. If it causes inefficiencies that could have been avoided, it's technical debt, regardless of the cause.