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Oh I know what he’s choosing. As far as I know there is no incentive for a project manager to address systemic technical debt unless it threatens their project directly.
Even as an architect, how does one find a balance of resolving tech debt vs restraining scope creep?
That depends. If you’re a consultant with an agreed project scope and you uncover technical debt, you could offer to address particular issues by amending the scope with adjusted pricing or even offer to stand up a seperate project to deal with it. Both options can deliver mutual benefit to the client (debt resolved) and the consultancy (increased sales).
If you’re an internal architect dealing with internal delivery teams, then you need to get good at breaking down large issues into smaller tasks and communicating what, why, when and how those small tasks address the larger problems. Create tactical and strategic options.
The problem a lot of architects face is that they don’t create buy-in from the relevant stakeholders and then they are viewed as pushing some sort of hidden agenda. Not a wise tactic. I’d suggest creating a documented strategy to address the issue you are facing and presenting it to service owners and respective teams so everyone is aware and on-board with the strategy. A good architect, is a good communicator.