Person record
Ward Cunningham
American programmer, inventor of the wiki, and the origin of the debt metaphor in software engineering.
Unverifieddraft
Author of the 1992 WyCash experience report, which introduced the comparison between shipping imperfect code and taking on debt.
coined is empty because no Concept records exist yet. When they do, the debt
metaphor should link here, with the caveat recorded on the work: he originated the
metaphor, and the phrase "technical debt" settled into use afterwards.
Links to
- coined
- Technical debt
Referenced by
- coined by
- Technical debt
- mentions
- For the Love of Law
Source: knowledge/people/ward-cunningham.md
Generated by claude-code/claude-opus-5 on 2026-07-25