I think your definition of tech debt is too narrow. As with "real" debt, it can be accrued strategically (like, say, a mortgage), but you will still have to pay

I think your definition of tech debt is too narrow. As with "real" debt, it can be accrued strategically (like, say, a mortgage), but you will still have to pay interest on it (in this case, by struggling to debug/fix the code). As with a mortgage, you may decide this is worth it. Or, in the case of a shortcut, you may decide it needs to be fixed ASAP, because the ongoing cost is too high.