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The person who coined technical debt explains what he actually meant, and it is not what most founders assume. Cunningham says debt is fine when you ship with partial understanding and then pay it back with a rewrite as you learn, and the danger is never repaying it. Five minutes here reframes debt as a deliberate tool rather than a moral failing to be scrubbed away.
Debt Metaphor
On YouTube (Ward Cunningham) by Ward Cunningham 5 min
- A little debt is a reasonable way to ship and learn faster
- Debt only becomes dangerous when you never pay it back
- Rewriting as understanding improves is the repayment, not a sign of failure
