Banca de DEFESA: ANGELA PEIXOTO SANTANA

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : ANGELA PEIXOTO SANTANA
DATE: 20/12/2023
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: https://conferenciaweb.rnp.br/webconf/christina-von-flach-garcia-chavez
TITLE:

A Characterization Study of Technical Debt in Software in Industry

KEY WORDS:

Technical Debt, Software Quality, Industry Studies.

PAGES: 84
BIG AREA: Ciências Exatas e da Terra
AREA: Ciência da Computação
SUBÁREA: Metodologia e Técnicas da Computação
SPECIALTY: Engenharia de Software
SUMMARY:

Context. The term Technical Debt (TD) denotes the results and consequences of the decision to prioritize the rapid delivery of software, focusing on short-term effectiveness at the expense of its quality. Technical debts incurred during the development and maintenance of software must be identified, characterized, and repaid in the future to avoid compromising its quality and the ease of its evolution.
In software projects developed in the industry, there is a recognized need to identify and characterize TD throughout the software lifecycle, aiming to manage it and mitigate threats to the long-term success of software. Industry studies allow exploring different aspects of TD in practice and from various perspectives, such as those of developers and managers, enriching the characterization of TD.

Objectives. The main objective of this work is to investigate, in the context of an IT company, the perceptions of development team professionals regarding the concept of Technical Debt (TD) and how TD manifests in one of the developed software systems.

Methods. We conducted a study in the context of a software development company branch, comprising:

(i) a survey with employees engaged in software development at the branch;
(ii) a preliminary characterization of the Technical Debt (TD) in a software system based on the identification of TD using the static analysis tool adopted by the company, SonarQube;
(iii) semi-structured interviews with the development team of the analyzed software regarding the TD identified by SonarQube.

Results. The survey study received 32 valid responses. It was observed that the concept of Technical Debt (TD) was known to the majority of professionals who participated in the study; however, they exhibited little familiarity with the long-term consequences of TD. The characterization of the software system based on the automatic identification of TD was conducted and used as support for the interviews. The deadlines set for the implementation of requirements are notably short. The documentation, when not updated, becomes insufficient in the long term, while testing is relegated to the background in favor of faster deliveries.

Conclusions. A characterization of Technical Debt in the industry revealed that established deadlines are the predominant factor for development teams to decide to incur technical debt. The team often chooses this approach to meet delivery deadlines. Despite being a known topic, there is still a need to disseminate the long-term consequences of Technical Debt. However, despite the increasing research on technical debt, the field lacks consensus on its definitions and long-term impacts on the industry.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 287345 - CHRISTINA VON FLACH GARCIA CHAVEZ
Interno - 4769482 - IVAN DO CARMO MACHADO
Externo à Instituição - CRESCENCIO RODRIGUES LIMA NETO - IFBA
Externo à Instituição - TIAGO OLIVEIRA MOTTA