alt Hacker NewsI think the title on HN doesn't reflect all that is in TFA, but rather the linked article[0]. Fowler's article is interesting tho.
I do like the idea that "all code is tech debt", and we shouldn't want to produce more of it than we need. But it's also worth remembering that debt is not bad per se, buying a house with a mortgage is also debt and can be a good choice for many reasons.
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Tech debt is totally misnamed. 'Tech debt' behaves more like equity than debt: if you project goes nowhere, the 'tech debt' becomes a non-issues.
I like the "cognitive debt" idea outlined here: https://margaretstorey.com/blog/2026/02/09/cognitive-debt/ (from a participant of the retreat) and especially the pithy "velocity without understanding is not sustainable" phrase.
IMHO, it doesn't, but I have changed the title to avoid any confusion.
Yeah that editorialized title is entirely wrong for this post. Problem is the real title is "Fragments: February 18" which is no good here either.
I suggest something like "Tidbits from the Thoughtworks Future of Software Development Retreat" (from the first sentence, captures the content reasonably well.)