This is quite a simple interpretation and so going to be wrong in many situations. But I find that so are those who are adamant that all technical debt is bad.

This is quite a simple interpretation and so going to be wrong in many situations. But I find that so are those who are adamant that all technical debt is bad. I've seen some people fixate on the idea of technical debt and tie themselves in knots with the impossible mission of not creating any. I see technical debt as akin to government debt, in that some amount enables flexibility and agility so can be accepted and handled but too much debt can rapidly become crippling, especially at times of crisis or bug change. So thoughtful design choices are needed about when to accept some debt, when to do more work to not introduce any, and very importantly, when to pay some off.