alt Hacker NewsAre you aware of this thing called a "metaphor"? Do you also find it aggravating when someone tells you about a program that is "running" because it's not using its legs to move along the ground? Or when someone says that they're going to "take a rain check" on an activity that doesn't have an entry fee?
>You don't pay off a car loan with procrastination.
Following the metaphor, the car loan itself would be the result of procrastination (i.e. you procrastinated when you decided to put off paying for the car by taking on debt).
>You don't decide to put off painting your house and then call that a loan.
I mean, I don't see what would prevent you from doing that, as long as everyone understands what you mean.
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> Or when someone says that they're going to "take a rain check" on an activity that doesn't have an entry fee?
Wait, what is a rain check?! Does it involve money?
Nobody acts like a server has legs when they say it's running. They do act like there is actual debt, or something that functions just like debt, when they say it's "tech debt".
If I said to you, "I know I should be on a diet right now, but I'm going to eat these donuts for a few months anyway." - is that diet debt? You might say yes, you might say no. Either way, I'm an idiot if I think I can eat those donuts now and just "pay them back" in a few months. That's not how food works. That's not how health works. It's not "good" that I'm packing on the pounds now. It's going to be harder to work them off later.
There's so many different decisions I could have taken to lessen the impact of this, like limiting my donut intake, or exercising after eating the donut, only eating half a donut, only eating a donut after I've reached a milestone, etc. But none of that goes into my diet debt idea. Because in my head, I can justify any shit decision I take now, with the idea of magically paying it off later with magic diet money. This was not a good decision, and calling them debt didn't make it a good or justifiable decision. I was just being fat and lazy.
People are literally considering the putting-off-of-necessary-work as equivalent to the functioning and value of a financial instrument (wherein debt is an actually constructive thing). They say, "tech debt is good, because <insert justifications>, and we can just pay it off later!".
Which is of course total nonsense, verging on insanity. You don't "pay off" generic bad decisions now with generic good decisions later. How about we nuke Russia tomorrow, and just "pay it back" by giving aid to Africa in 100 years? Hmmmmm. Nuclear debt? Sounds good to me!
There are bad metaphors, and then there's group psychosis covered by a metaphor. So much shit is constantly excused with this trite nonsense. It's a universal "do whatever the fuck you want" excuse. Do anything you know is wrong, and say "well, you know, it's just tech debt!", and all is forgiven and allowed. Like doing ten Hail Mary's after fondling the alter boy. Intone the magic words and you're free to sin again.