> Legacy code isn’t tech debt either: it was right for the time.
The time it was written often isn't when the technical debt was incurred, when maintenance to keep it right, technologically, for the changing time was deferred, that's when a decision was made to incur a higher price later to save now: that's when the (technical) debt was incurred.
> as an example that comes to mind, a bank running on COBOL doesn’t have tech debt unless their COBOL engineers are aware of their missed opportunities
The existence of technical debt is unrelated to awareness of the deferred costs. “technical debt” isn't a statement about the existing technical staff’s perception of the system.
The time it was written often isn't when the technical debt was incurred, when maintenance to keep it right, technologically, for the changing time was deferred, that's when a decision was made to incur a higher price later to save now: that's when the (technical) debt was incurred.
> as an example that comes to mind, a bank running on COBOL doesn’t have tech debt unless their COBOL engineers are aware of their missed opportunities
The existence of technical debt is unrelated to awareness of the deferred costs. “technical debt” isn't a statement about the existing technical staff’s perception of the system.