This white paper provides an overview of the topic of "technical debt" and presents an approach for managing technical debt in teams. The white paper is based on the results of my dissertation, which aimed to translate scientific findings into practical guidance. To this end, I collaborated with other researchers to support three teams from different companies in adapting and establishing a technical debt management system tailored to their specific needs. Research findings were supplemented with details or additional approaches. Research results that were less practical were discarded. The result is a guide on establishing technical debt management within a team. The guide is intended to provide orientation and not be a rigid framework. We distinguish between "best practices" and "nice-to-haves." "Best practices" are understood to be all approaches that were adopted by all three teams. "Nice-to-haves" were used by at least one team. In many places, it is explicitly mentioned that the team should decide together how to design the process. This also applies, of course, to all areas where this was not explicitly mentioned. This white paper explicitly does not cover the establishment of technical debt management across the entire company, but provides suggestions for this at the end.
翻译:本白皮书概述了"技术债务"这一主题,并提出了一种在团队中管理技术债务的方法。该白皮书基于本人博士论文的研究成果,旨在将科学发现转化为实践指导。为此,我与其他研究人员合作,协助三家不同公司的团队根据其特定需求调整并建立定制化的技术债务管理体系。研究结果补充了具体细节或额外方法,实用性不足的研究成果则被剔除。最终形成了一份关于在团队内部建立技术债务管理的指南。本指南旨在提供方向性指导,而非僵化的框架。我们区分了"最佳实践"与"锦上添花"两类方法。"最佳实践"指被三个团队全部采纳的方法,"锦上添花"则指至少被一个团队使用的方法。文中多处明确指出,团队应共同协商确定流程设计方式。当然,所有未明确提及的领域也应遵循此原则。本白皮书明确不涉及全公司范围的技术债务管理体系建设,但文末为此提供了相关建议。