How to introduce TD Management into a Software Development Process – A Practical Approach

Abstract

This paper presents a process for management of technical debt (TD) and how it can be integrated sustainably into the existing software development process in an industrial context. A holistic approach is pursued where the development team and the management team agree on a common understanding of TD. From this, requirements for the process are derived, which should support the medium- and long-term planning of the roadmap. By iteratively evaluating the technical debt in the context of the feature roadmap, an internal development benefit (debt repayment) can be combined with an external benefit (new features), while optimizing development costs at the same time. The first results illustrate the positive effect of the continuous repayment of technical debt.