Technical Debt refers to the additional work or cost that arises when developers choose an easier, quicker solution instead of a more reliable, long-term approach. While taking shortcuts can help meet deadlines or reduce immediate complexity, it often leads to code that is harder to maintain, extend, or scale in the future. Technical debt accumulates over time, as these quick fixes create a burden on future development efforts, potentially leading to increased bugs, slower development, and higher maintenance costs.

Managing technical debt requires a balance between meeting short-term goals and ensuring long-term code quality. Teams may need to prioritize refactoring, improve documentation, or allocate time to pay down technical debt as part of their development process. Ignoring technical debt can lead to a situation where the cost of maintaining or improving the software becomes prohibitively high, negatively impacting productivity, performance, and user satisfaction. Effective management of technical debt is crucial for maintaining a healthy, sustainable codebase that can evolve with changing requirements.