The original meaning of the term technical debt in software development was implementing a simplified design to get feedback faster. It meant a deliberate choice: To implement something where one already knew that it would not suffice, that it would have to be changed later. But teams would also get something in return; Usually faster feedback, but maybe also other things like having a demo ready for a trade show.

In this video, I compare technical debt to sacrificial branches and sacrificial trunks in bonsai. Those are branches (or a part of the original trunk line of the tree) that we keep, even though they will not be part of the final design. We also get something in return here: We can use them to thicken everything below the sacrifice branch, to stimulate root growth or to improve the health of the tree.