[AstralStorm]

That's what you get from inexperience not from paying off the debt.

It's called second system effect and it's relatively easy to avoid by methodically documenting original and mercilessly avoiding adding features.

And this includes design features that are not immediately shown to save a lot of time and code. Every such feature needs an advocate and also a prosecutor, and alternatives have to be briefly explored using a prototype.

The worst mess is actually trying to pay off the "debt" in installments by taking on new one. Then running out of time or shifting focus, ending up with double the problem and half the readability.

[morgelgluff]

Those observations pertain specifically to developers who howl about vague technical debts. Those tend to be juniors.

Seniors point out specific issues with specific consequences and lay out specific actions to resolve/mitigate. The term “technical debt” isn’t usually needed in that case.

Technical debt terminology is a fig leaf for “I dont understand and I wont put in the effort to learn”.