I like "maxing out the technical credit card." I think of technical debt as needful work that you just can't afford to do right now (usually in lieu of chasing

I like "maxing out the technical credit card." I think of technical debt as needful work that you just can't afford to do right now (usually in lieu of chasing features) so you "charge it" and then having to deal with a suboptimal situation you're then "paying interest" on that debt.