quality debt (noun phrase)
The gap between a minimally viable result with debatable fitness for purpose, and a result that meets its intended quality standard.
Quality debt is prevalent in AI work, created when weaknesses are accepted or ignored and left to be corrected, or repaid, later. Quality debt is commonly a consequence of resource constraints. Quality debt may be editorial, operational, experiential, physical, or technical. It is most dangerous when the debt is hidden, ownerless, and compounds.
Example: “The article was live and readable, but weak production evidence and an untested premium feel remained as quality debt.”
Related: regression, playbook, human-in-the-loop, workslop