https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa15/conference-program/presentation/dickson

This presentation raises an interesting issue which is that the term "Debt" is not necessarily viewed as a negative thing.

Debt can be seen as an opportunity as it's a mean to get capital to invest and grow, specially from a manager standpoint.

Even without these considerations, "Debt" remains something quite deterministic, you've to repay a fix amount every month plus interests, and at the end you're done with it (even if it's not 100% true).

What's behind "Technical Debt" is generally not like that. It's generally more something which might blow-up catastrophically one day, and there is generally no plan to reimburse it.

The term "Technical Risk" might be more accurate, but I personally find it to vague.

How should we rename "Technical Debt"?

Keep in mind that it should also speak to the none technical side.