&gt; quantitative managers asking for promises of real profit before committing to cleaning up technical debt<p>I obviously can&#x27;t speak for your experience in having these discussions, but I&#x27;ve found that the &quot;debt&quot; metaphor is extremely helpful in explaining this value to the business side (and, having worked in finance, it&#x27;s actually more appropriately referred to as an unhedged call option <i>which is much worse</i>[1]).<p>1: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;higherorderlogic.com&#x2F;2010&#x2F;07&#x2F;bad-code-isnt-technical-debt-its-an-unhedged-call-option&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;higherorderlogic.com&#x2F;2010&#x2F;07&#x2F;bad-code-isnt-technical-...</a>