[smu]

I fail to see the difference. Financial debt is also a brake on future activities, in the sense that you have to pay back with interest, so less funds are available for other activities.

So in your words: it makes this one iteration quicker, but slows down the next one...

[waterlink]

I see what you mean, and I agree partially.

Follow my thoughts (and please do poke holes in them!):

Financial debt allows you to deliver more -> sell more -> pay down debt quicker -> deliver more (if you got it right and haven’t failed).

So the money itself becomes a mechanism by which you deliver faster, and, as a result of faster delivery, earn more money to deliver even more and faster.

Now, the technical debt.

Earning more money from more feature delivered in current iteration might result in more revenue NOW. But does it result in more/faster delivery after that revenue happened?

Not really.

You can potentially hire more people. But they will only slow the team down at first. There is a delay between “more people” => “faster delivery.”

So financial debt can enable a positive reinforcing loop. Can technical debt do that?