I tend use the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" metaphor.
If it leans too much, the tower will fall down.
If it doesn't tilt at all, you won't sell tickets to tourists.
The art is to find the sweet spot.
The art is to find the sweet spot.
I dont know about that... Eiffel tower is vertically straight and sells a lot of tickets.
Yeah, but in Italy those are a dime a dozen.
This metaphor cannot be stretched too far, though, since the actual tower has the leaning as one of its main attractions, whereas in your project, the technical debt is best hidden from tourists (customers). :)
It amazes me the number of people who think metaphors and analogies are literal copies of the concept they're approximating and thus proceed to nitpick those comparisons.