Ward Cunningham coined "technical debt" in 1992. The industry adopted the metaphor and refused to do the math.

We say "we have some tech debt" the way someone says "I have some credit card debt" without ever opening the statement.

The new essay opens with the statement. Compound interest formulas. $495K/yr carrying cost for a 10-person team. A debt ceiling projection you can run Monday morning.

https://simplicityfirstphilosophy.substack.com/p/technical-debt-has-an-interest-rate