Technical Debt Payment Practices and Rationales Behind Payment Avoidance in the Serbian IT Industry

Abstract

Technical debt (TD), as a metaphor for utilizing quick workarounds to achieve short-term wins, is gaining attention in academia and industry. However, little is known about how companies pay off the accumulated TD, or why they chose to avoid this payment. The goal of this research was set to address this knowledge gap by gaining insight on TD payment practices, as well as on reasons behind the decisions to avoid debt payment in the Serbian IT industry. This research is a part of the InsighTD project—a globally distributed family of industrial surveys on TD—and as such it also amplifies the InsighTD reach and expands its knowledge base. A nationwide survey was conducted with practitioners from the Serbian IT industry, which was followed by a qualitative and quantitative data analysis. In total 79 valid responses were analyzed. Results show that TD is in most cases paid off by refactoring or by hiring specialized professionals, while the most common reasons why TD is not paid off include the lack of resources, complexity of the needed repayment work and the lack of management support. Results also suggest that payment of deadline-caused TD with additional work can generate additional TD injections due to tight schedule. This can motivate academics to conduct further empirical investigations while the practitioners can familiarize with practices for paying of the accumulated TD, as well as reasons for avoiding debt payment.