We need an accounting system for cognitive debt
Cognitive debt in software development is as harmful as technical debt but lacks an accounting system to track it. Without measurement, teams unknowingly accumulate mental strain that reduces productivity and code quality. The author calls for formal methods to record and address cognitive debt.
Background
- The article argues that modern software systems accumulate "cognitive debt" — the hidden mental burden engineers bear from working with bloated, over-abstracted, or poorly documented code — and that this debt, like financial or technical debt, needs a formal accounting system to be measured and managed.