[logicallee]

Maybe a better word than "technical debt" is "rusty Ferrari".

Would you accept a free rusty Ferrari tomorrow? If it would take $60k in repairs to get into usable form, and probably not that great even if you put in those repairs, which you have no inclination to do, probably not. Especially if you couldn't easily sell it. If you were a broke college student and it was in roadworthy condition, and you had no other way to make it to your job - probably you would.

This captures that it's not really that you're "$60k in the hole" if you accept the free rusty Ferrari. In a sense, yes, you are.

I propose rusty Ferrari as the new, more precise term for technical debt. "We have a lot of rusty Ferraris in our garage" isn't a debt, but I think might capture the meaning. "I don't want a rusty Ferrari in my garage" = I don't want this technical debt. Let's make it work with some rusty Ferraris = let's cobble together a hack we should probably throw away.

what do you guys think?