You discover your team has been silently struggling with tech debt they didn’t report. How do you handle it?

Short answer: I address this openly but without blame. In the next retrospective, I create a safe space for the team to share challenges. We then review the debt together, categorize it by impact, and plan how to tackle it incrementally—either in future sprints or dedicated “debt paydown” cycles. I also work to improve transparency so the team feels comfortable raising issues earlier.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

Managers care that you communicate early, protect quality, and help the ShopNest team deliver predictably.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.