Inventor of the wiki

Ward Cunningham

Cunningham coined technical debt to explain to business stakeholders why software needs continual reshaping as understanding grows.

Essential reading: The technical debt metaphor
WikiWikiWeb
CRC cards (with Kent Beck)
Models in this guide: 2

No. 034Trade-offs & Economics
Technical Debt as Interest
Shortcuts are loans: they buy speed today and charge interest on every future change.
No. 121From the Masters
Technical Debt Quadrant
Classify debt as deliberate or inadvertent, and prudent or reckless; each needs a different response.