A Taste of the Software Industry Perception of Technical Debt and its Management in Brazil

Authors

  • Victor Machado Silva Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
  • Helvio Jeronimo Junior Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
  • Guilherme Horta Travassos Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5753/jserd.2019.19

Keywords:

Technical debt, Survey, Experimental Software Engineering

Abstract

Technical debt (TD) is receiving more and more attention to software engineering. Although it was initially used as a communication tool for technical and non-technical stakeholders, nowadays this concept supports the improvement of the software’s internal quality. Despite the increasing number of studies regarding TD and its management, only a few are concerned with the industry. Therefore, this primary study aims to characterize TD and its management under the perspective of Brazilian software organizations using their practitioners as proxies. A survey was performed with 62 practitioners, representing around 12 organizations and 30 software projects. The analysis of 40 valid questionnaires indicates that TD is still unknown to a considerable fraction of the participants, and only a small group of organizations adopt TD management activities in their projects. The survey package is available and can be used to support further investigations on TD management in software organizations.

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References

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Published

2019-07-15

How to Cite

Silva, V. M., Junior, H. J., & Travassos, G. H. (2019). A Taste of the Software Industry Perception of Technical Debt and its Management in Brazil. Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development, 7, 1:1 – 1:16. https://doi.org/10.5753/jserd.2019.19

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Section

Research Article