Definition
The accumulated divergence between what a system can technically do and what any recorded justification permits it to do. Each widening that occurs as a capability becoming reachable rather than a decision being taken adds to the debt; the automation ratchet is its engine and authority drift is its balance.
It matters because the debt is invisible while it accrues: the system performs well, the grants sit quiet, and the gap grows without a policy document changing. It is the sibling of corrective debt, which measures the gap against the capacity to hear; constitutional debt measures it against the capacity to justify. Both are payable only through the machinery Laws I, II, and XI bind: recorded transitions with stated bases.
Tests that show it is in place
- The gap between the capability catalog and the authority surface is measured and reported.
- Every widening appears as a recorded transition with a basis, or is reported as debt.
- Renewal reviews compare current scope against the original justification, not against last year's scope.
Evidence to keep
- Artifact: A reconciliation of the capability catalog against the authority surface, with the ungrantable remainder listed.
- Behavior: An expansion refused, or granted as an explicit transition, because the justification covered less than the new scope.
- Metric: Capability classes exercised in production with no recorded authorization transition.
References
- What does not convert · Theory
- STD-08 Delegation · Standard