Master the financial-metaphor collocations used to describe, manage, and reduce technical debt.
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Years of rushing features had caused the team to ___ significant technical debt.
Accumulate technical debt is the standard metaphor from Martin Fowler's framework. Debt builds up or accumulates over time. 'Gather up' and 'collect' are less idiomatic. 'Store' implies intent, which is incorrect here.
2 / 5
The team decided to dedicate 20% of each sprint to ___ the technical debt in the authentication module.
Address technical debt is the correct collocation meaning to actively work on reducing debt. 'Handle about' is ungrammatical. 'Fix away' is informal. 'Deal' requires 'with' and is less specific to debt management.
3 / 5
The product owner agreed to ___ technical debt items in the next planning cycle.
Prioritise technical debt is standard product management language. Debt items are added to the backlog and 'prioritised'. 'Rank up' and 'order above' are not idiomatic. 'Grade' is used for assessments, not backlog management.
4 / 5
By automating tests, the team was able to significantly ___ their technical debt over two quarters.
Reduce technical debt is the natural collocation alongside 'address' and 'pay down'. 'Lower down' is redundant. 'Bring under' is not a standard phrase here. 'Drop off' suggests a sudden decrease, not systematic reduction.
5 / 5
Engineering leadership committed to ___ the legacy authentication debt before the platform migration.
Pay down (technical) debt extends the financial metaphor — you pay down a loan gradually. This is a widely used IT collocation. 'Pay off fully' is possible but 'pay down' implies incremental progress. 'Wipe off' and 'clear away' are less precise.