Complexity of products, volatility in global markets, and the increasingly rapid pace of innovations may make it difficult to know how to approach challenging situations in mechatronic design and production. Technical Debt (TD) is a metaphor that describes the practical bargain of exchanging short-term benefits for long-term negative consequences. Oftentimes, the scope and impact of TD, as well as the cost of corrective measures, are underestimated. Especially for mechatronic teams in the mechanical, electrical, and software disciplines, the adverse interdisciplinary ripple effects of TD incidents are passed on throughout the life cycle. The analysis of the first comprehensive survey showed that not only do the TD types differ in cross-disciplinary comparisons, but different characteristics can also be observed depending on whether a discipline is studied in isolation or in combination with others. To validate the study results and to report on a general consciousness of TD in the disciplines, this follow-up study involves 15 of the 50 experts of the predecessor study and reflects the frequency and impact of technical debt in industrial experts' daily work using a questionnaire. These experts rate 14 TD types, 47 TD causes, and 33 TD symptoms in terms of their frequency and impact. Detailed analyses reveal consistent results for the most frequent TD types and causes, yet they show divergent characteristics in a profound exploration of discipline-specific phenomena. Thus, this study has the potential to set the foundations for future automated TD identification analyses in mechatronics.
翻译:技术债务(TD)是一个隐喻,它描述了为了长期负面后果而交换短期利益的实际交易。通常低估了TD的范围和影响,以及纠正措施的成本。特别是对于机械、电气和软件学科的机械组、电气和软件学科的机械组来说,TD事件在跨学科周期中产生的负面的跨学科连锁效应已经传遍了工业专家日常工作中的频率和影响。对第一次全面调查的分析表明,TD类型不仅在跨学科比较方面有所不同,而且根据学科是孤立研究还是与其他学科结合研究,也可以观察到不同的特征。为了验证研究结果并报告在学科中对TD的普遍认识,这项后续研究涉及前任研究的50名专家中的15名专家,并用一份调查表反映了技术债务在工业专家日常工作中的频率和影响。这些专家在14种TD类型、47种TD原因和33种TD症状方面,其频率和影响也各不相同。详细分析显示,这种研究的频率和影响程度和程度最深层次的TD/原因,详细分析显示这种潜在的潜在结果。