The origin of tech debt is well understood among experienced development teams. If it were possible to avoid it simply by planning, then they'd simply plan to a

The origin of tech debt is well understood among experienced development teams. If it were possible to avoid it simply by planning, then they'd simply plan to avoid it right at the beginning. It's not possible to avoid tech debt by planning because tech debt is not really an oversight. Tech debt is a direct result of the wrong priorities. The development team does not set the priorities. The team are simply the builders, like a construction team. If you tell a construction team to change what they're building in the middle of building it, your project will take longer and become more expensive, and structurally/functionally will end up worse and worse as you continue to build on something not designed for it. Or if the builders simply decide to skip vital steps to move faster, then of course debt will follow; don't install a vapor barrier in your new home and you will soon find a quite large debt after it's completed! The only way to prevent tech debt is to have good priorities and not change them mid-way. If you design it well, and have experienced developers, they can built it right the first time with no debt. But if priorities are compromised, debt will inevitably follow. In terms of the "tech wealth" listed here, what they really mean is "be able to do your job"; have the right tools and processes so you can get something done in the right amount of time. Again, that's priorities. If you don't have some automation or tool, you have two choices: you can buy it, or you can build it. Building it costs more money and takes more time - debt!! If the priority is reduction of short-term cost, the development team can't just plan around that.