
The Toxic Bubble of Technical Debt Threatening America - throw0101a
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/10/california-fires-and-pge-toxic-debt/600979/
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throw0101a
The tech term pulled into the mainstream:

> _For decades, corporate executives, as well as city, county, state, and
> federal officials, not to mention voters, have decided against doing the
> routine maintenance and deeper upgrades to ensure that electrical systems,
> roads, bridges, dams, and other infrastructure can function properly under a
> range of conditions. Kicking the can down the road like this is often seen
> as the profit-maximizing or politically expedient option. But it’s really
> borrowing against the future, without putting that debt on the books._

> _In software development, engineers have long noted that taking the easy way
> out of coding problems builds up what they call “technical debt,” as the
> tech journalist Quinn Norton has written._

Norton's article:

* [https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/10/18/a-world-we-built-to-bu...](https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/10/18/a-world-we-built-to-burn/)

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tboyd47
Wait, don't turn tech debt into a climate change thing. That's our word!

I can just hear the Backlog Grooming conversations...

Devs: "When are we going to schedule time for tech debt? We haven't done any
chores in 3 months."

Manager: "Oh, you didn't see the CEO's email? Instead of handling tech debt
with engineer time, we're turning off the A/C every Thursday."

