CITATION — REFERENCE ENTRY

triple-debt-model · storey-2026-triple-debt

Revision b70de1ee-2c4c-452c-8d1b-8d5cdc621b29 · 9/26/2026, 3:23:09 PM UTC
Claim ID
triple-debt-model
Assertion
Storey proposes a triple debt model: technical debt concerns problems in code, cognitive debt the erosion of a team's shared understanding over time, and intent debt the lack of externalized goals, constraints, and rationale. Technical debt makes systems harder to change, cognitive debt harder to understand, and intent debt harder to know the purpose of.
Quote
technical debt refers to problems in the code layer, cognitive debt refers to erosion of shared understanding across a team over time, and intent debt refers to a lack of externalized goals, constraints, and rationale that both humans and AI systems need to work safely and efficiently with the codebase. Technical debt makes systems harder to change. Cognitive debt makes systems harder to understand. Intent debt makes it difficult to know what the system is actually for.
Quote language
en
Locator
page: 1
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