A distinction is proposed between Managed and Unmanaged Technical Debt. Managed debt is intentional, documented, and handled by a disciplined team that understands the optimal solution and has a plan to pay it off. Unmanaged debt arises from immature teams building hacks on top of hacks without awareness of better alternatives. The post also describes a practical visualization technique using story maps and sticky notes to track and prioritize technical debt, making it feel controllable rather than overwhelming.
