Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Startups Transitioning from Early to Growth Phase - A Pilot Study of Technical Debt Perception

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Software Business (ICSOB 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 407))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Context: Software startups are software-intensive early phase companies with high growth rates. Previous researchers regarded startups’ time to market as short and decisive in establishing the product/service success. This led to shortcuts in software engineering decisions. Researchers in previous investigations documented a high accumulation of technical debt (TD) in early startup phases. However, we found little evidence in the literature concerning TD when startups transition to the growth phase. Aim: Our goal was to evaluate how the transition from early to growth phases affects TD perception in software startups. Methodology: We conducted a pilot study guided by semi-structured interviews from multiple software startup cases. Results: We identified the four following dimensions: (1) managing, (2) accepting, (3) avoiding, and (4) ignoring TD. Contribution: Our study will allow practitioners to address TD in growth-phase software startups. Future researchers can benefit from our findings by conducting exploratory studies and providing educated recommendations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Metaphoric concept of TD has been first introduced by Ward Cunningham [9] in 1992. Read more on Sect. 2 about its relation to software startups.

References

  1. Apa, C., Jeronimo, H., Nascimento, L.M., Vallespir, D., Travassos, G.H.: The perception and management of technical debt in software startups. In: Nguyen-Duc, A., Münch, J., Prikladnicki, R., Wang, X., Abrahamsson, P. (eds.) Fundamentals of Software Startups, pp. 61–78. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35983-6_4

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Avgeriou, P., Kruchten, P., Ozkaya, I., Seaman, C.: Managing technical debt in software engineering (Dagstuhl seminar 16162). In: Dagstuhl Reports, vol. 6. Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Berg, V., Birkeland, J., Nguyen-Duc, A., Pappas, I., Jaccheri, L.: A systematic mapping study. J. Syst. Softw. Softw. Startup Eng. (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Besker, T., Martini, A., Lokuge, R.E., Blincoe, K., Bosch, J.: Embracing technical debt, from a startup company perspective. In: IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME), pp. 415–425. IEEE (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Braun, V., Clarke, V.: Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual. Res. Psychol. 3(2), 77–101 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Brown, N., et al.: Managing technical debt in software-reliant systems. In: Proceedings of the FSE/SDP Workshop on Future of Software Engineering Research, pp. 47–52. ACM (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Cannice, M.V.: Confidence among silicon valley venture capitalists Q3 2017–Q4 2018: trends, insights, and tells. Journal Private Equity 22(3), 18–24 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Crowne, M.: Why software product startups fail and what to do about it. Evolution of software product development in startup companies. In: IEEE International Engineering Management Conference, vol. 1, pp. 338–343. IEEE (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Cunningham, W.: The WyCash portfolio management system, experience report. In: Proceedings on Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages, and Applications (OOPSLA 1992) (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Devos, N., Durieux, D., Ponsard, C.: Managing technical debt in it start-ups–an industrial survey. In: International Conference on Software and System Engineering and their Applications (ICSSEA) (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Garkavtsev, M., Lamonova, N., Gostev, A.: Chosing a programming language for a new project from a code quality perspective. In: IEEE Second International Conference on Data Stream Mining & Processing (DSMP), pp. 75–78. IEEE (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Giardino, C., Wang, X., Abrahamsson, P.: Why early-stage software startups fail: a behavioral framework. In: Lassenius, C., Smolander, K. (eds.) ICSOB 2014. LNBIP, vol. 182, pp. 27–41. Springer, Cham (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08738-2_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Giardino, C., Paternoster, N., Unterkalmsteiner, M., Gorschek, T., Abrahamsson, P.: Software development in startup companies: the greenfield startup model. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 42(6), 585–604 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gralha, C., Damian, D., Wasserman, A.IT., Goulão, M., Araújo, J.: The evolution of requirements practices in software startups. In: Proceedings of the 40th International Conference on Soft- ware Engineering, pp. 823–833. ACM (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Guo, Y., et al.: Tracking technical debt. an exploratory case study. In: 27th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM), pp. 528–531. IEEE (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Holvitie, J., et al.: Technical debt and agile software development practices and processes. An industry practitioner survey. Inf. Softw. Technol. 96, 141–160 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jabangwe, R., et al.: An exploratory study of software evolution and quality: before, during and after a transfer. In: 2012 IEEE Seventh Inter- national Conference on Global Software Engineering, pp. 41–50. IEEE (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Klotins, E., et al.: Exploration of technical debt in start-ups. In: IEEE/ACM 40th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Practice Track (ICSE-SEIP), pp. 75–84. IEEE (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Klotins, E., et al.: A progression model of software engineering goals, challenges, and practices in start-ups. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kruchten, P., Nord, R.L., Ozkaya, I.: Technical debt: from metaphor to theory and practice. IEEE Software 29(6), 18–21 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Li, Z., Avgeriou, P., Liang, P.: A systematic mapping study on technical debt and its management. J. Syst. Softw. 101, 193–220 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Martini, A., Besker, T., Bosch, J.: Technical debt tracking: current state of practice: a survey and multiple case study in 15 large organizations. Sci. Comput. Programm. 163, 42–61 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Nguyen-Duc, A., Wang, X., Abrahamsson, P.: What influences the speed of prototyping? An empirical investigation of twenty software startups. In: Baumeister, H., Lichter, H., Riebisch, M. (eds.) XP 2017. LNBIP, vol. 283, pp. 20–36. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57633-6_2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  24. Runeson, P., Höst, M.: Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering. Empirical Softw. Eng. 14(2), 131 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Seaman, C., Guo, Y.: Measuring and monitoring technical debt. In: Advances in Computers, vol. 82, pp. 25–46. Elsevier (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Silva, V.M., Jeronimo Jr., H., Travassos, G.H.: A taste of the software industry perception of technical debt and its management in Brazil. J. Softw. Eng. Res. Develop. 7, 1 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Suri, H., et al.: Purposeful sampling in qualitative research synthesis. Qual. Res. J. 11(2), 63 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Tom, E., Aurum, A.K., Vidgen, R.: An exploration of technical debt. J. Syst. Softw. 86(6), 1498–1516 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Unterkalmsteiner, M., et al.: Software startups-a research agenda. e-Informatica Softw. Eng. J. 10(1) (2016)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Orges Cico & Letizia Jaccheri

  2. Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil

    Renata Souza & Ivan Machado

  3. University of South-Eastern Norway, Notodden, Norway

    Anh Nguyen Duc

Authors
  1. Orges Cico
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Renata Souza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Letizia Jaccheri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Anh Nguyen Duc
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ivan Machado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Orges Cico .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden

    Eriks Klotins

  2. Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden

    Krzysztof Wnuk

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Cico, O., Souza, R., Jaccheri, L., Nguyen Duc, A., Machado, I. (2021). Startups Transitioning from Early to Growth Phase - A Pilot Study of Technical Debt Perception. In: Klotins, E., Wnuk, K. (eds) Software Business. ICSOB 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 407. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67292-8_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67292-8_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-67291-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-67292-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation