Select examples of how technical debt is accumulated.

• Pressures associated with scheduling and customer commitments.

• Lack of skill by developers, architects, and product managers.

• Lack of understanding in applying well established patterns and principles.

• Lack of awareness of technical debt accumulation, failure to identify and correct smelly code, and ignoring easy refactoring.

• Evolution of the world around, new ways the system is used, new levels of customer traffic, etc.