Measuring the Impact of Technical Debt on Development Effort in Software Projects

Abstract

Technical debt refers to the trade-offs between code quality and faster delivery, impacting future development with increased complexity, bugs, and costs. This study empirically analyzes the additional work effort caused by technical debt in software projects, focusing on feature implementations. I explore how delaying technical debt repayment through refactoring influences long-term work effort. Using data from open-source and enterprise projects, I correlate technical debt with practical work effort, drawing from issue trackers and version control systems. Our goal is to provide a framework for managing technical debt, aiding developers, project managers, and stakeholders in understanding and mitigating its impact on productivity and costs.