This article describes technical debt in code which isn’t the only kind of technical debt. It is potentially much clearer from my perspective to understand technical debt in architecture and infrastructure.
The amount of technical debt can be described here by identifying the quickest shortcut as well as the most correct solution, choosing the solution between those two on the spectrum that makes the most sense for current time and staff, and taking the difference between where you landed and the most correct solution. This difference is technical debt.
Taking on the debt does most times get you further faster, but in turn it slows you down in the long run. The longer you wait to pay it off, the more time in the interim you spend making minimum payments that get you nowhere but consume time.
The amount of technical debt can be described here by identifying the quickest shortcut as well as the most correct solution, choosing the solution between those two on the spectrum that makes the most sense for current time and staff, and taking the difference between where you landed and the most correct solution. This difference is technical debt.
Taking on the debt does most times get you further faster, but in turn it slows you down in the long run. The longer you wait to pay it off, the more time in the interim you spend making minimum payments that get you nowhere but consume time.