
We often hear about technical debt as something to be avoided—a burden that slows teams down and creates long-term risk. But what if we thought about it differently? What if, instead of treating it as an inevitable evil, we viewed it as technical leverage? Leverage, a concept borrowed from the financial industry, is using debt strategically to gain an advantage.
Just like financial debt, technical debt isn’t inherently bad. It becomes a problem when it’s unmanaged. But when used strategically—investing in short-term speed to gain a competitive edge—it can be a powerful tool for innovation. The key is intentionality. Are you taking on "debt" to move fast in the right places, with a clear plan to pay it down? Or are you accumulating it recklessly?
Take a SaaS startup working overtime to launch its MVP. The team knows the reporting dashboard is far from optimal—it’s slow, and queries sometimes time out. But instead of delaying launch to perfect it, they decide to accept the performance trade-off to get to market fast. If they don’t launch soon, they risk missing their window entirely—making any future optimization irrelevant. The plan? Ship now, prove value, then invest in performance improvements once real users validate the need.
But who makes that call? It may seem like a technical decision, but it’s a business decision first. Product management is accountable for weighing the trade-offs, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring the team understands the rationale. Engineering can't make this call unilaterally, nor should they be left to manage the consequences alone. When and how to “pay down” tech debt must be tied to business priorities—customer impact, growth goals, and competitive pressures. Without PM driving this conversation, technical debt can spiral from leverage into liability.
Great teams don’t just avoid debt—they manage it. They understand when to take on debt, when to refinance, and when to pay it down. Tech debt isn’t just a liability—it can be an asset.
How do you and your team think about technical debt? Is it dragging you down or helping you move forward?
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