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Technical Credit
Publication Type:
Journal article
Venue:
Communications of the ACM
Abstract
Technical debt (TD) is an established concept in software engineering encompassing an unavoidable side effect of
software development [1]. It arises due to tight schedules, which often prioritizes short-term delivery goals over longterm
product quality concerns [1]. Even when long-term planning is feasible, the continuous evolution of requirements
and technology platforms necessitates design decisions and code revision. Inevitably, even the best software designs
will deteriorate over time, leading to TD [2].
Addressing TD is an essential task that entails continuous efforts to refactor code bases, update integrated third-party
components, and resolve low-priority bugs [3]. Just like managing personal finances or parenting teenagers, a living
software system requires constant attention to TD. Simply, TD is an unavoidable aspect of the software development
process. TD has been a subject of extensive research and analysis within the software engineering community. In many
ways, TD is the gift that keeps on giving for the research community, delivering an endless source of problems to study
from the vast global ecosystem of the software industry. It is simply an intrinsic problem in software engineering that
will never go away. Not while humans write code.
Surprisingly, the software engineering literature has yet to explore the opposite concept of TD, namely Technical
Credit (TC). While TD creates friction that decreases a project’s velocity over time, TC reduces development friction by
greasing the wheels of evolution for a software system. Recognizing this gap in research, the primary objective of this
viewpoint article is to introduce the concept of TC in the context of software engineering. In particular, we propose a
definition of TC and present an abstract model to provide a comprehensive understanding of the concept. Furthermore,
we provide real-world examples of TC and outline a set of research questions that must be addressed to effectively
implement TC management in practice.
Bibtex
@article{Gorton7011,
author = {Ian Gorton and Alessio Bucaioni and Patrizio Pelliccione},
title = {Technical Credit},
volume = {1},
pages = {1--5},
month = {September},
year = {2024},
journal = {Communications of the ACM},
url = {http://www.ipr.mdu.se/publications/7011-}
}