Al projects create some degree of debt (lets broaden the term for a moment). The question is what is acceptable and what is not. I have focused my efforts on transparency so that both the accumulation of debt and the step that have created it are choices made on a broader level rather than at an individual level.

I also really like your comparison to a deck of cards!

And so, when we start talking about technical debt, we’re usually talking about the bad way of taking it on. It amazes me how many business people who run technology-based businesses are comfortable with their lack of understanding of how their business is actually running (hint: it’s a house of cards) are always embattled with their own IT people and wonder why. People can’t value what they don’t understand. So it will never get better for them, or their staff. They will have to learn the hard way.

Your desire to make a friendly term of it reduces its candor and value. It won’t help. They must be brought to the water, they must learn the truth. So technical debt should never be made into a “biz-friendly” term. If it’s the correct term, use it.