Tech debt often accumulates not just from deadlines or micromanagement, but from a feedback timing problem. When developers work in isolation on large feature branches and only seek review at the PR stage, reviewers face a dilemma: demand a costly rewrite or let flawed design slip through. Early feedback is rarely given because it requires more mental effort than reviewing finished code, and rarely requested because developers don't expect to receive it. Breaking this cycle requires proactively asking for early design feedback and making the effort to provide it, shifting teams from a sign-off culture to a collaborative one.
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