Technical debt is the future cost created by shortcuts, outdated dependencies, undocumented decisions, and systems nobody wants to touch. It is not automatically bad; a deliberate shortcut can be sensible. Hidden debt is the problem.
Spot the signals
Updates are avoided, one person knows how everything works, small changes break unrelated pages, backups are untested, or a simple content edit requires developer intervention. These are signs to investigate, not reasons to panic.
Pay it down deliberately
Rank items by business risk. Document first, remove unused dependencies, test updates, improve the most important workflow, and replace brittle parts when there is a clear benefit. Small, regular improvements usually beat a dramatic rewrite with no plan.
Ongoing technical care can make the work visible and manageable.