What do you think of this extension of your analogy:
Financial debt has an interest rate, but you take it out because you believe the return on the proceeds raised adds more value than the cost.
Technical debt is meant to (ideally) be the same. As long as it's outstanding and compounding, it should be because your return on business value will be lower if you "pay it back", then if you do not and spend time/resources elsewhere.
if your discount rate is 30%+ per annum, this makes for some counter-intuitive conclusions about when it's smart or not to "finance" with technical debt.
Financial debt has an interest rate, but you take it out because you believe the return on the proceeds raised adds more value than the cost.
Technical debt is meant to (ideally) be the same. As long as it's outstanding and compounding, it should be because your return on business value will be lower if you "pay it back", then if you do not and spend time/resources elsewhere.
if your discount rate is 30%+ per annum, this makes for some counter-intuitive conclusions about when it's smart or not to "finance" with technical debt.