If you're leading a profitable, cash-flow-positive business, you've probably watched technical debt pile up—those accumulated consequences of choosing quick fixes over well-designed, long-term solutions. Maybe your teams built features fast to hit the market, taking shortcuts along the way.

Some executives think tech debt is like healthy corporate debt with low interest. It's not. It's more like credit card debt that compounds aggressively. That's why tech debt isn't just an "IT issue," it's a business strategy problem. And unless you know what to look for, how it manifests can be pretty mysterious.

In this episode of Velocity's Edge, Huw Rogers frames the strategic challenges that lead to unhealthy levels of tech debt. He and host Nicko Goncharoff dig into key questions: Why does tech debt cause system fragility, and information security issues? Why does it delay product releases?

Addressing or even identifying these issues isn't straightforward. Tech debt is a necessary byproduct of innovation, but it leaves a chain of consequences. You really have to dig deep to find the root problems.

There are different flavors too. 

Conscious tech debt happens when teams deliberately build something they know they'll need to rebuild later, taking documented shortcuts with explicitly accepted risks.

Unconcious tech debt can be inadvertent—the byproduct of unrealistic deadlines that force engineers to make their own choices. This gets particularly messy when multiple teams work in parallel on inconsistent components. Sometimes it's just ad-hoc decisions where someone faces two paths forward without fully appreciating the risks and rewards of each.

Huw Rogers has spent two decades driving technology transformation in fintech, specializing in electronic markets technology, FX, equities, derivatives, and crypto. He has successfully led teams and projects across multiple regions, delivering scalable solutions that create tangible business impact.