The idea of technical debt is easy to explain even to a non-techie. You need to do things right but you postpone it to achieve something else. You still must do it eventually, otherwise everything will fall apart, and the later you get to do it, the harder it gets. The concept of debt is so easy to grasp that we even bring it up to explain the necessity behaving morally right.

Of course, technical debt, just like, say, moral debt, is not really a debt. No one has borrowed anything from anyone. Nevertheless, it’s a handy way to explain to stakeholders why your team is going to spend a month delivering no value and why they should be okay with it. It’s a useful mental model that improves mutual understanding by translating something abstract, complex and niche (software design compromises) into the terms of something universally familiar and commonsensical (borrowing money). Translating from an obscure foreign language to the lingua franca.

You must pay debts. It’s a moral obligation. Moreover, you must pay debts in time, and the longer you don’t, the more trouble you’re in. The idea of debt, possibly, is more intrinsic to humans than the idea of morals, but that’s a whole another (interesting) story. This is what makes the metaphor of debt such a powerful rhetorical device.

Apply the idea of tech debt to your daily life. Life debt is all the times you skip exercise to watch a match, it’s when you eat junk food to save time for an important business, when you get two hours of sleep because you partied. Life debt is the dentist check-up you skip because you didn’t have time for commute, or when you decide to work late hours instead of spending time with family. You owe it to the future self, and the longer, the more.

Of course, life debt is not really a debt. No one has borrowed anything from anyone. Nevertheless, it’s a useful mental model and a great way to explain to yourself why you may spend an evening not trying to be as busy and productive as you can, and not feel guilty about that. The later you get to take care of yourself and your surroundings, the harder it gets to do it later. Compound interest applies.

Soundtrack

Kiasmos — II, released today. Inside my head I’m dancing.