I would say Tech debt gets a lot more attention. It’s easy to see and easy to blame.
“We couldn’t ship that because the codebase is a mess.”
But this thing called ‘coordination debt’ is a lot sneakier. It builds up slowly with a few unclear responsibilities here, a couple of assumptions there.
Then suddenly, no one knows who’s supposed to do what, deadlines drift, and even simple decisions take a week.
Here’s what coordination debt can look like:
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Everyone thinks someone else is handling governance updates
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Community managers and devs aren’t aligned on what’s actually live
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A feature is ready, but no one prepped docs, support, or announcements
Case in point:
In 2025, the Eclipse blockchain project (a Solana-compatible L2 on Ethereum) went through three CEOs in 15 months, cut 65% of its team, and let go of a community lead who opposed their token launch structure. The new CEO publicly admitted that the team’s prolonged silence had frustrated the community and damaged trust. No hack. No rug. Just coordination breakdown.
This is what happens when coordination debt piles up.
Just like tech debt, the fix isn’t glamorous, but it works:
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Write things down, even if it feels obvious
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Repeat important stuff more than you think you need to
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Align early, not just often
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Ask dumb questions before they become expensive ones
If you’re operating in Web3, especially in a DAO or flat-ish org , this matters even more.
The answer is better coordination and less confusing tools.
What have you seen that works well?
And what signs of coordination debt do you keep an eye out for?