The benefits and consequences of workarounds in software development projects

Abstract

Workarounds have existed in software from the very beginning. Being a formalized collection of knowledge rather than a physical artifact, software allows shortcuts in its development process. The shortcuts serve various purposes, like releasing a product to the market faster or postponing the solution of a problem. In this article, we present the findings of an investigation of workarounds in two software companies. Our analysis reveals that the decisions to take a workaround to resolve a technical issue are often intentional and forced by time-to-market requirements. However, the stakeholders are not always familiar with the negative consequences of taking workarounds, like additional hours, costs, and poor quality. We argue that the decision to take a workaround is often made by business managers who see short-term benefits only while developers have to deal with negative consequences in long-term.