Technical Debt
In plain terms
The future cost of choosing a quick solution over a better one.
Going deeper
Technical debt accrues when shortcuts, hacks, or skipped refactors make code harder to change later. Like financial debt, it charges 'interest' in slowed development until paid down.
Under the hood
Intentional (strategic shortcuts) vs. unintentional (poor design) debt differ; unmanaged, it compounds until change becomes slow and risky.
Examples
Skipped tests, copy-paste code, outdated dependencies, quick hacks under deadline.
Think of it like...
Like taking out a loan to ship faster today: convenient now, but you pay it back with interest in slower work later.