{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T22:42:47Z","timestamp":1785537767696,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,8,26]],"date-time":"2013-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1377475200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\/copyright_policy#Background"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,8,26]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>As the pace of software delivery increases and technology rapidly changes, organizations seek guidance on how to insure the sustainability of their software development effort. Over the past four years running the workshops on Managing Technical Debt, we have seen increased interest from the software industry to understanding and managing technical debt. A better understanding of the concept of technical debt, and how to approach it, both from a theoretical and a practical perspective is necessary to advance its state of the art and practice. In this paper, we highlight the current confusion in industry on the definition of technical debt, their contributions that have led to a deeper understanding of this concept and the limits of the metaphor, the criteria to discriminate what is technical debt and not, and areas of further investigation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/2507288.2507326","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,9,3]],"date-time":"2013-09-03T11:57:11Z","timestamp":1378209431000},"page":"51-54","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":78,"title":["Technical debt"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"38","author":[{"given":"Philippe","family":"Kruchten","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert L.","family":"Nord","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ipek","family":"Ozkaya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Davide","family":"Falessi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering College Park, MD, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_1_1_1","volume-title":"International Conference on Software Engineering","author":"Bishop J.","year":"2013","unstructured":"J. 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Ernst, \"On the role of requirements in understanding and managing technical debt,\" in Managing Technical Debt (MTD), 2012 Third International Workshop on, 2012, pp. 61--64."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_6_1","first-page":"16","volume-title":"Practical Considerations, Challenges, and Requirements of Tool-Support for Managing Technical Debt,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE","author":"Falessi D.","year":"2013","unstructured":"D. Falessi , M. A. Shaw , F. Shull , K. Mullen , and M. Stein , \" Practical Considerations, Challenges, and Requirements of Tool-Support for Managing Technical Debt,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013 , P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE , 2013, pp. 16 -- 19 . D. Falessi, M. A. Shaw, F. Shull, K. Mullen, and M. Stein, \"Practical Considerations, Challenges, and Requirements of Tool-Support for Managing Technical Debt,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013, P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE, 2013, pp. 16--19."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_7_1","unstructured":"M. Fowler \"Technical Debt \" 2009 http:\/\/martinfowler.com\/bliki\/TechnicalDebt.html  M. Fowler \"Technical Debt \" 2009 http:\/\/martinfowler.com\/bliki\/TechnicalDebt.html"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_8_1","volume-title":"How to settle your technical debt--a manager's guide","author":"Gat I.","year":"2010","unstructured":"I. Gat , Ed. How to settle your technical debt--a manager's guide . Arlington, MA : Cutter Consortium , 2010 . I. Gat, Ed. How to settle your technical debt--a manager's guide. Arlington, MA: Cutter Consortium, 2010."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1985362.1985370"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_10_1","first-page":"23","volume-title":"2012 Third International Workshop on","author":"Izurieta C.","year":"2012","unstructured":"C. Izurieta , A. Vetro , N. Zazworka , Y. Cai , C. Seaman , and F. Shull , \" Organizing the technical debt landscape,\" in Managing Technical Debt (MTD) , 2012 Third International Workshop on , 2012 , pp. 23 -- 26 . C. Izurieta, A. Vetro, N. Zazworka, Y. Cai, C. Seaman, and F. Shull, \"Organizing the technical debt landscape,\" in Managing Technical Debt (MTD), 2012 Third International Workshop on, 2012, pp. 23--26."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1985362.1985371"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2012.167"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2347696.2347698"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"P. Kruchten R.L. Nord I. Ozkaya \"4th international workshop on managing technical debt (MTD 2013) \" in Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Software Engineering 2013.   P. Kruchten R.L. Nord I. Ozkaya \"4th international workshop on managing technical debt (MTD 2013) \" in Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Software Engineering 2013.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICSE.2013.6606774"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_15_1","volume-title":"Metaphors we live by","author":"Lakoff G.","year":"1980","unstructured":"G. Lakoff and M. Johnson , Metaphors we live by . Chicago : The University of Chicago Press , 1980 . G. Lakoff and M. Johnson, Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_16_1","first-page":"31","volume-title":"2012 Third International Workshop on","author":"Letouzey J.-L.","year":"2012","unstructured":"J.-L. , Letouzey , \"The SQALE method for evaluating Technical Debt,\" in Managing Technical Debt (MTD) , 2012 Third International Workshop on , pp. 31 -- 36 , June 2012 . J.-L., Letouzey, \"The SQALE method for evaluating Technical Debt,\" in Managing Technical Debt (MTD), 2012 Third International Workshop on, pp.31--36, June 2012."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2012.130"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_18_1","unstructured":"S. McConnell \"Technical debt \" 2007. http:\/\/blogs.construx.com\/blogs\/stevemcc\/archive\/2007\/11\/01\/technical-debt-2.aspx  S. 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Zhang, \"Technical debt aggregation in ecosystems,\" in Managing Technical Debt (MTD), 2012 Third International Workshop on, 2012, pp. 27--30."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_21_1","first-page":"39","volume-title":"Mapping Architectural Decay Instances to Dependency Models,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE","author":"Mo R.","year":"2013","unstructured":"R. Mo , J. Garcia , Y. Cai , and N. Medvidovic , \" Mapping Architectural Decay Instances to Dependency Models,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013 , P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE , 2013, pp. 39 -- 46 . R. Mo, J. Garcia, Y. Cai, and N. Medvidovic, \"Mapping Architectural Decay Instances to Dependency Models,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013, P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE, 2013, pp. 39--46."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_22_1","first-page":"32","volume-title":"at ICSE","author":"Monteith J. Y.","year":"2013","unstructured":"J. Y. Monteith and J. D. McGregor , \" Exploring Software Supply Chains From a Technical Debt Perspective ,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt , at ICSE 2013 , P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE , 2013, pp. 32 -- 38 . J. Y. Monteith and J. D. McGregor, \"Exploring Software Supply Chains From a Technical Debt Perspective,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013, P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE, 2013, pp. 32--38."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_23_1","first-page":"1","volume-title":"2012 Third International Workshop on","author":"Morgenthaler J. D.","year":"2012","unstructured":"J. D. Morgenthaler , M. Gridnev , R. Sauciuc , and S. Bhansali , \" Searching for build debt: Experiences managing technical debt at Google,\" in Managing Technical Debt (MTD) , 2012 Third International Workshop on , 2012 , pp. 1 -- 6 . J. D. Morgenthaler, M. Gridnev, R. Sauciuc, and S. Bhansali, \"Searching for build debt: Experiences managing technical debt at Google,\" in Managing Technical Debt (MTD), 2012 Third International Workshop on, 2012, pp. 1--6."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_24_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1985362.1985364"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_25_1","first-page":"28","volume-title":"Viewing Team and Organization Capacity as a Portfolio of Real Options,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE","author":"Power K.","year":"2013","unstructured":"K. Power , \"Understanding the Impact of Technical Debt on the Capacity and Velocity of Teams and Organizations : Viewing Team and Organization Capacity as a Portfolio of Real Options,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013 , P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE , 2013, pp. 28 -- 31 . K. Power, \"Understanding the Impact of Technical Debt on the Capacity and Velocity of Teams and Organizations: Viewing Team and Organization Capacity as a Portfolio of Real Options,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013, P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE, 2013, pp. 28--31."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_26_1","unstructured":"J. Rothman \"An Incremental Technique to Pay Off Testing Technical Debt \" 2006. http:\/\/www.jrothman.com\/2006\/01\/an-incremental-technique-to-pay-off-testing-technical-debt\/  J. Rothman \"An Incremental Technique to Pay Off Testing Technical Debt \" 2006. http:\/\/www.jrothman.com\/2006\/01\/an-incremental-technique-to-pay-off-testing-technical-debt\/"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_27_1","first-page":"63","volume-title":"at ICSE","author":"Schmid K.","year":"2013","unstructured":"K. Schmid , \" On the Limits of the Technical Debt Metaphor ,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt , at ICSE 2013 , P. 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Nord, Eds., IEEE , 2013. R. O. Spinola, N. Zazworka, A. Vetr\u00f2, C. B. Seaman, and F. Shull, \"Investigating Technical Debt Folklore: Shedding Some Light on Technical Debt Opinion,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013, P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE, 2013."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_31_1","unstructured":"D.J. Sturtevant \"System Design and the Cost of Architectural Complexity \" Massachusetts Institute of Technology February 2013.  D.J. Sturtevant \"System Design and the Cost of Architectural Complexity \" Massachusetts Institute of Technology February 2013."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_32_1","first-page":"47","volume-title":"Generating Precise Dependencies for Large Software,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE","author":"Wang P.","year":"2013","unstructured":"P. Wang , J. Yang , L. Tan , R. Kroeger , and J. D. Morgenthaler , \" Generating Precise Dependencies for Large Software,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013 , P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. Nord, Eds., IEEE , 2013, pp. 47 -- 50 . P. Wang, J. Yang, L. Tan, R. Kroeger, and J. D. Morgenthaler, \"Generating Precise Dependencies for Large Software,\" in Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, at ICSE 2013, P. Kruchten, I. Ozkaya, and R. 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