You can have a little tech debt for a short time. After that the bumbailiff will be up your bum.

bumbailiff

#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# The bumbailiff allows the team to take up a small amount of technical debt
# (TODOs in the code) for a limited period. After that period the script fails.
#
# Originally written by Aslak Hellesoy
#
set -ef -o pipefail
IFS=$'\n' # make newlines the only separator

RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
ORANGE='\033[0;33m'
BOLD='\033[1m'
NC='\033[0m'

YOUNG=7
OLD=14
CREDIT_LIMIT=${1:-100}
TODO_PATTERN="TODO"

now_seconds_since_epoch_utc=$(date +%s)
todo_age_days_total=0
todo_count=0

leftpad() {
  printf "%+3s\n" $1
}

for todo_file in $(git grep --files-with-matches "${TODO_PATTERN}"); do
  if [ "$0" = "${todo_file}" ]; then
    continue
  fi
  for todo_line in $(git blame "${todo_file}" -s -l -f | grep "${TODO_PATTERN}"); do
    sha=$(echo "${todo_line}" | cut -c1-40)
    commit_seconds_since_epoch_utc=$(git show -s --format="%at" "${sha}")

    todo_age_days=$(( (now_seconds_since_epoch_utc - commit_seconds_since_epoch_utc) / 86400 ))
    todo_age_days_total=$(( $todo_age_days_total + todo_age_days ))
    todo_count=$(( todo_count + 1 ))

    # Formatting
    if ((${todo_age_days}<=${YOUNG})); then
    color="${GREEN}"
    elif ((${todo_age_days}<=${OLD})); then
    color="${ORANGE}"
    else
    color="${RED}"
    fi

    path_length=${#todo_file}
    cutoff=$((40 + 2 + path_length))
    todo_line_stripped=$(echo "${todo_line}" | cut -c${cutoff}-)

    prefix="${color}$(leftpad ${todo_age_days}) days:${NC}"
    echo -e "${prefix} ${BOLD}${todo_file}${NC}${todo_line_stripped}"
  done
done
echo
echo -e "💵💵💵💵💵 Tech debt: ${BOLD}${todo_count}${NC} TODOs with a total age of ${BOLD}${todo_age_days_total}${NC} days. Credit limit: ${BOLD}${CREDIT_LIMIT}${NC}. 💵💵💵💵💵"

if ((${todo_age_days_total}>=${CREDIT_LIMIT})); then
  overdraft=$((todo_age_days_total - CREDIT_LIMIT))
  echo -e "💵💵💵💵💵 ${RED}Overdraft: ${NC}${BOLD}${overdraft}${NC} ${RED}TODO days${NC} 💵💵💵💵💵"
  exit 1
fi

exit 0