Klara Borowa , Andrzej Ratkowski , Roberto Verdecchia
{"title":"技术债务赌博:大规模工业微服务架构中技术债务的案例研究","authors":"Klara Borowa , Andrzej Ratkowski , Roberto Verdecchia","doi":"10.1016/j.jss.2025.112547","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microservice architectures provide an intuitive promise of high maintainability and evolvability due to loose coupling. However, these quality attributes are notably vulnerable to technical debt (TD). Few studies address TD in microservice systems, particularly on a large scale. This research explores how TD manifests in a large-scale microservice-based industrial system. The research is based on a mixed-method case study of a project including over 100 microservices and serving over 15k locations. Results are collected <em>via</em> a quantitative method based static code analyzers combined with qualitative insights derived from a focus group discussion with the development team and a follow-up interview with the lead architect of the case study system. Results show that (1) simple static source code analysis can be an efficient and effective entry point for holistic TD discovery, (2) inadequate communication significantly contributes to TD, (3) misalignment between architectural and organizational structures can exacerbate TD accumulation, (4) microservices can rapidly cycle through TD accumulation and resolution, a phenomenon referred to as “microservice architecture technical debt gamble”. Finally, we identify a set of fitting strategies for TD management in microservice architectures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51099,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Systems and Software","volume":"230 ","pages":"Article 112547"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"The technical debt gamble: A case study on technical debt in a large-scale industrial microservice architecture\",\"authors\":\"Klara Borowa , Andrzej Ratkowski , Roberto Verdecchia\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.jss.2025.112547\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>Microservice architectures provide an intuitive promise of high maintainability and evolvability due to loose coupling. However, these quality attributes are notably vulnerable to technical debt (TD). Few studies address TD in microservice systems, particularly on a large scale. This research explores how TD manifests in a large-scale microservice-based industrial system. The research is based on a mixed-method case study of a project including over 100 microservices and serving over 15k locations. Results are collected <em>via</em> a quantitative method based static code analyzers combined with qualitative insights derived from a focus group discussion with the development team and a follow-up interview with the lead architect of the case study system. Results show that (1) simple static source code analysis can be an efficient and effective entry point for holistic TD discovery, (2) inadequate communication significantly contributes to TD, (3) misalignment between architectural and organizational structures can exacerbate TD accumulation, (4) microservices can rapidly cycle through TD accumulation and resolution, a phenomenon referred to as “microservice architecture technical debt gamble”. Finally, we identify a set of fitting strategies for TD management in microservice architectures.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":51099,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of Systems and Software\",\"volume\":\"230 \",\"pages\":\"Article 112547\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":4.1000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-07-16\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of Systems and Software\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"94\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016412122500216X\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"计算机科学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"COMPUTER SCIENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Systems and Software","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016412122500216X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING","Score":null,"Total":0}
The technical debt gamble: A case study on technical debt in a large-scale industrial microservice architecture
Microservice architectures provide an intuitive promise of high maintainability and evolvability due to loose coupling. However, these quality attributes are notably vulnerable to technical debt (TD). Few studies address TD in microservice systems, particularly on a large scale. This research explores how TD manifests in a large-scale microservice-based industrial system. The research is based on a mixed-method case study of a project including over 100 microservices and serving over 15k locations. Results are collected via a quantitative method based static code analyzers combined with qualitative insights derived from a focus group discussion with the development team and a follow-up interview with the lead architect of the case study system. Results show that (1) simple static source code analysis can be an efficient and effective entry point for holistic TD discovery, (2) inadequate communication significantly contributes to TD, (3) misalignment between architectural and organizational structures can exacerbate TD accumulation, (4) microservices can rapidly cycle through TD accumulation and resolution, a phenomenon referred to as “microservice architecture technical debt gamble”. Finally, we identify a set of fitting strategies for TD management in microservice architectures.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Systems and Software publishes papers covering all aspects of software engineering and related hardware-software-systems issues. All articles should include a validation of the idea presented, e.g. through case studies, experiments, or systematic comparisons with other approaches already in practice. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
•Methods and tools for, and empirical studies on, software requirements, design, architecture, verification and validation, maintenance and evolution
•Agile, model-driven, service-oriented, open source and global software development
•Approaches for mobile, multiprocessing, real-time, distributed, cloud-based, dependable and virtualized systems
•Human factors and management concerns of software development
•Data management and big data issues of software systems
•Metrics and evaluation, data mining of software development resources
•Business and economic aspects of software development processes
The journal welcomes state-of-the-art surveys and reports of practical experience for all of these topics.