[cookiecaper]

Yes, I agree to an extent. I guess the problem is that quantification of technical debt is not so straightforward as financial debt.

When I say the "real world doesn't care", I don't necessarily mean that as a bad thing. The realities of shipping a product urge companies to make compromises. Like financial debt, technical debt is a useful tool, as long as it's used responsibly and kept under control.

[stcredzero]

Yes, but when the real world doesn't care so much about financial debt, things start failing. Witness 2008. This happens with tech debt too, it's just not well understood by the mainstream. I'm pretty sure when Alamo got acquired, it was in part due to their crappy software making them less convenient to visit and uncompetitive. I think it was them. I remember years ago one car rental company's agent terminals were so bad it just took twice as long to get through their line.