Embracing Technical Debt, from a Startup Company Perspective

Besker, Terese,1970Chalmers tekniska högskola,Chalmers University of Technology (author)

Software startups are typically under extreme pressure to get to market quickly with limited resources and high uncertainty. This pressure and uncertainty is likely to cause startups to accumulate technical debt as they make decisions that are more focused on the short-term than the long-term health of the codebase. However, most research on technical debt has been focused on more mature software teams, who may have less pressure and, therefore, reason about technical debt very differently than software startups. In this study, we seek to understand the organizational factors that lead to and the benefits and challenges associated with the intentional accumulation of technical debt in software startups. We interviewed 16 professionals involved in seven different software startups. We find that the startup phase, the experience of the developers, software knowledge of the founders, and level of employee growth are some of the organizational factors that influence the intentional accumulation of technical debt. In addition, we find the software startups are typically driven to achieve a “good enough level,” and this guides the amount of technical debt that they intentionally accumulate to balance the benefits of speed to market and reduced resources with the challenges of later addressing technical debt.

Martinia, AntonioUniversitetet i Oslo,University of Oslo (author)
Lokuge, Rumesh EdirisooriyaUniversity of Auckland (author)
Blincoe, KellyUniversity of Auckland (author)
Bosch, Jan,1967Chalmers tekniska högskola,Chalmers University of Technology(Swepub:cth)janbo (author)
Chalmers tekniska högskolaUniversitetet i Oslo (creator_code:org_t)

In:PROCEEDINGS 2018 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND EVOLUTION (ICSME), s. 415-4251063-677397815386787019781538678701

By the author/editor: Besker, Terese, ...; Martinia, Antoni ...; Lokuge, Rumesh E ...; Blincoe, Kelly; Bosch, Jan, 1967

About the subject

SOCIAL SCIENCES: SOCIAL SCIENCES; and Other Social Sci ...; and Work Sciences

SOCIAL SCIENCES: SOCIAL SCIENCES; and Other Social Sci ...; and Social Sciences ...

NATURAL SCIENCES: NATURAL SCIENCES; and Computer and Inf ...; and Software Enginee ...

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