The best I can imagine this notion of "hacking debt" is a "lack of hacking playtime", which the author belives may have bad consequences ; yet I deny that very

The best I can imagine this notion of "hacking debt" is a "lack of hacking playtime", which the author belives may have bad consequences ; yet I deny that very notion. Financial debt exists. Technical debt exist too (especially if you make a living maintaining old code :-). Lack of training exist (skills deteriorate) Hacking debt ? Sorry, but once again "huh" ?? How is promoting a kind of glorified slacking helpful? You seem to have a far better understanding of it than I may have, so please describe this "totally new" concept termed "hacking debt", and also provide some proofs or links about the detrimental consequences it might have. Otherwise, I would like to take this opportunity to present you my new concern of "cinnamon-roll debt": I postulate that not frequently eating cinnamon rolls has bad consequences for a coder. Of course, I won't provide any proof. Also, I'll let people discuss that concept on HN to try and make some sense about it. I'll plug the term with A/B tested SEO words, like "technical debt". If it doesn't work, I'll present a new concept of "magical-rock debt" - about how not having a magical rock leads to coders burning out. PS- you're right, the article does not directly infers that playtime will solve technical debt. It just says "people become less effective and eventually burn out". However after reading it again, my impression is still that it is presented as if it could be helpful, and as if "hacking debt" was a real problem. IMHO it's not, and it's bad advice. Initially, I posted a TLDR with a simple analogy, then saw the downvotes and a lack of understanding, so I tried to provide more details to explain why I think the basic concept is wrong, besides the analogy. Yet, in the last 5 minutes I still see 4 downvotes. Never mind. I guess casting wild ideas is more recognised than examining how they could be wrong and proposing simpler fixes. There may be a market for lion-repelling magical rocks. I've got one and I've never even been chased by a lion! Also, it prevents burnout, and my productivity has never been higher! I'm out.