Reducing technical debt: Using persuasive technology for encouraging software developers to document code

Yulia Shmerlin, Doron Kliger, Hayim Makabee

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Technical debt is a metaphor for the gap between the current state of a software system and its hypothesized 'ideal' state. One of the significant and under-investigated elements of technical debt is documentation debt, which may occur when code is created without supporting internal documentation, such as code comments. Studies have shown that outdated or lacking documentation is a considerable contributor to increased costs of software systems maintenance. The importance of comments is often overlooked by software developers, resulting in a notably slower growth rate of comments compared to the growth rate of code in software projects. This research aims to explore and better understand developers' reluctance to document code, and accordingly to propose efficient ways of using persuasive technology to encourage programmers to document their code. The results may assist software practitioners and project managers to control and reduce documentation debt.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvanced Information Systems Engineering Workshops - CAiSE 2014 International Workshops, Proceedings
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages207-212
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)9783319078687
StatePublished - 2014
Event26th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering, CAiSE 2014 - Thessaloniki, Greece
Duration: 16 Jun 201420 Jun 2014

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Business Information Processing
Volume178 LNBIP
ISSN (Print)1865-1348

Conference

Conference26th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering, CAiSE 2014
Country/TerritoryGreece
CityThessaloniki
Period16/06/1420/06/14

Keywords

  • Documentation
  • Documentation debt
  • FBM Model
  • Persuasive technology
  • Software maintenance
  • Technical debt

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Management Information Systems
  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Business and International Management
  • Information Systems
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Information Systems and Management

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