Costs and obstacles encountered in technical debt management – A case study.

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Title: Costs and obstacles encountered in technical debt management – A case study.
Authors: Guo, Yuepu1 yuepu.guo@umbc.edu, Seaman, Carolyn1 cseaman@umbc.edu, Q.B. da Silva, Fabio2 fabio@cin.ufpe.br
Source: Journal of Systems & Software. Oct2016, Vol. 120, p156-169. 14p.
Subjects: Computer software costs, Computer software management, Computer programming, Software maintenance, Computer software quality control
Abstract: Technical debt (TD) is a metaphor that characterizes the effect of immature software artifacts. The costs and benefits of TD, along with the uncertainty of its interest repayment, provide leverage for software managers, but also could lead to problems such as increased costs and lower quality during maintenance if it is left unattended. Therefore, effective approaches to TD management are needed by software practitioners. As one of our series of studies on TD management, this study was originally designed to reveal the cost side of explicit TD management. The study design required applying a simple proposed TD management approach to the subject project and then collecting cost information. Not surprisingly, we observed some deviation of the actual management process from our proposed one, which provided us with an opportunity to investigate the obstacles to explicitly managing TD. We also identified some costs and cost patterns related to TD management. Based on the insights gained from this study, we further propose strategies to overcome the obstacles and improve the application of TD management in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Systems & Software is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Costs and obstacles encountered in technical debt management – A case study.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Guo%2C+Yuepu%22">Guo, Yuepu</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> yuepu.guo@umbc.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Seaman%2C+Carolyn%22">Seaman, Carolyn</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> cseaman@umbc.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Q%2EB%2E+da+Silva%2C+Fabio%22">Q.B. da Silva, Fabio</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo><i> fabio@cin.ufpe.br</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Systems+%26+Software%22">Journal of Systems & Software</searchLink>. Oct2016, Vol. 120, p156-169. 14p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+software+costs%22">Computer software costs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+software+management%22">Computer software management</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+programming%22">Computer programming</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Software+maintenance%22">Software maintenance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+software+quality+control%22">Computer software quality control</searchLink>
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  Data: Technical debt (TD) is a metaphor that characterizes the effect of immature software artifacts. The costs and benefits of TD, along with the uncertainty of its interest repayment, provide leverage for software managers, but also could lead to problems such as increased costs and lower quality during maintenance if it is left unattended. Therefore, effective approaches to TD management are needed by software practitioners. As one of our series of studies on TD management, this study was originally designed to reveal the cost side of explicit TD management. The study design required applying a simple proposed TD management approach to the subject project and then collecting cost information. Not surprisingly, we observed some deviation of the actual management process from our proposed one, which provided us with an opportunity to investigate the obstacles to explicitly managing TD. We also identified some costs and cost patterns related to TD management. Based on the insights gained from this study, we further propose strategies to overcome the obstacles and improve the application of TD management in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Systems & Software is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1016/j.jss.2016.07.008
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        Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Computer programming
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      – SubjectFull: Software maintenance
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      – SubjectFull: Computer software quality control
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      – TitleFull: Costs and obstacles encountered in technical debt management – A case study.
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              Text: Oct2016
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