{"id":"https://openalex.org/W3195250667","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2021.3086578","title":"Garbage Collect Your Technical Debt","display_name":"Garbage Collect Your Technical Debt","publication_year":2021,"publication_date":"2021-08-20","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W3195250667","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2021.3086578","mag":"3195250667"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/ms.2021.3086578","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2021.3086578","pdf_url":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx7/52/9520220/09520328.pdf","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S6725529","display_name":"IEEE Software","issn_l":"0740-7459","issn":["0740-7459","1937-4194"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Software","raw_type":"journal-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"bronze","oa_url":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx7/52/9520220/09520328.pdf","any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5088385502","display_name":"Michael Keeling","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5732-3156"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Michael Keeling","raw_affiliation_strings":["LendingHome, San Francisco, California, USA","LendingHome"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"LendingHome, San Francisco, California, USA","institution_ids":[]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"LendingHome","institution_ids":[]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5014225180","display_name":"Timothy J. Halloran","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1308-2132"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I1291425158","display_name":"Google (United States)","ror":"https://ror.org/00njsd438","country_code":"US","type":"company","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1291425158","https://openalex.org/I4210128969"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Tim Halloran","raw_affiliation_strings":["Google,,,,,"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Google,,,,,","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I1291425158"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5010128377","display_name":"George Fairbanks","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2595-2801"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I1291425158","display_name":"Google (United States)","ror":"https://ror.org/00njsd438","country_code":"US","type":"company","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1291425158","https://openalex.org/I4210128969"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"George Fairbanks","raw_affiliation_strings":["Google","Google,,,,,"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Google","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I1291425158"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Google,,,,,","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I1291425158"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":3,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5088385502"],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.5508,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":2,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.72814065,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":93,"max":95},"biblio":{"volume":"38","issue":"5","first_page":"113","last_page":"116"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10430","display_name":"Software Engineering Techniques and Practices","score":0.9995999932289124,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10430","display_name":"Software Engineering Techniques and Practices","score":0.9995999932289124,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.9991000294685364,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12423","display_name":"Software Reliability and Analysis Research","score":0.9896000027656555,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1712","display_name":"Software"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/technical-debt","display_name":"Technical debt","score":0.9401606917381287},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/debt","display_name":"Debt","score":0.7401086688041687},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/computer-science","display_name":"Computer science","score":0.535852313041687},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software","display_name":"Software","score":0.5263458490371704},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/process","display_name":"Process (computing)","score":0.513116180896759},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-engineering","display_name":"Software engineering","score":0.4821159839630127},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-development","display_name":"Software development","score":0.357101708650589},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/engineering","display_name":"Engineering","score":0.3502779006958008},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/business","display_name":"Business","score":0.34772053360939026},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/risk-analysis","display_name":"Risk analysis (engineering)","score":0.32874178886413574},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/finance","display_name":"Finance","score":0.3006649613380432},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/operating-system","display_name":"Operating system","score":0.14955174922943115}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C159198006","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1532172","display_name":"Technical debt","level":4,"score":0.9401606917381287},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C120527767","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3196867","display_name":"Debt","level":2,"score":0.7401086688041687},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.535852313041687},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777904410","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7397","display_name":"Software","level":2,"score":0.5263458490371704},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C98045186","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205663","display_name":"Process (computing)","level":2,"score":0.513116180896759},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C115903868","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80993","display_name":"Software engineering","level":1,"score":0.4821159839630127},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C529173508","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q638608","display_name":"Software development","level":3,"score":0.357101708650589},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C127413603","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11023","display_name":"Engineering","level":0,"score":0.3502779006958008},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C144133560","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4830453","display_name":"Business","level":0,"score":0.34772053360939026},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C112930515","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4389547","display_name":"Risk analysis (engineering)","level":1,"score":0.32874178886413574},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C10138342","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43015","display_name":"Finance","level":1,"score":0.3006649613380432},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C111919701","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9135","display_name":"Operating system","level":1,"score":0.14955174922943115}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1109/ms.2021.3086578","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2021.3086578","pdf_url":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx7/52/9520220/09520328.pdf","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S6725529","display_name":"IEEE Software","issn_l":"0740-7459","issn":["0740-7459","1937-4194"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Software","raw_type":"journal-article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/ms.2021.3086578","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2021.3086578","pdf_url":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx7/52/9520220/09520328.pdf","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S6725529","display_name":"IEEE Software","issn_l":"0740-7459","issn":["0740-7459","1937-4194"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Software","raw_type":"journal-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":true,"pdf":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W3195250667.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W3195250667.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":7,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W29189109","https://openalex.org/W3035787787","https://openalex.org/W3093618353","https://openalex.org/W3131579751","https://openalex.org/W3154558167","https://openalex.org/W3174076554","https://openalex.org/W4285719527"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W1985040977","https://openalex.org/W4234730551","https://openalex.org/W2598593295","https://openalex.org/W2476117260","https://openalex.org/W2770531922","https://openalex.org/W1845068655","https://openalex.org/W4321354308","https://openalex.org/W3118244000","https://openalex.org/W2935052825","https://openalex.org/W3121161786"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"There":[0],"is":[1,76],"a":[2,10,50,66,79],"kind":[3],"of":[4,17,21,42,61],"design":[5,36],"distortion":[6],"that":[7],"happens":[8],"when":[9],"team":[11],"chooses":[12],"to":[13,33,49,57,72,77],"build":[14],"iteratively":[15],"instead":[16],"looking":[18],"at":[19,24],"all":[20],"the":[22,29,40,59,91,95],"requirements":[23],"once.":[25],"Ward":[26],"Cunningham":[27],"coined":[28],"term":[30],"technical":[31],"debt":[32,44,63,75],"describe":[34],"those":[35],"distortions.1":[37],"By":[38],"understanding":[39],"causes":[41],"tech":[43,62,74],"and":[45,64,89],"connecting":[46],"them":[47],"back":[48],"team\u2019s":[51],"actions":[52],"(or":[53],"inactions),":[54],"it\u2019s":[55],"possible":[56],"minimize":[58,73],"buildup":[60],"keep":[65],"system":[67],"healthy":[68],"indefinitely.":[69],"The":[70],"way":[71],"view":[78],"software":[80],"development":[81],"process":[82],"as":[83],"an":[84],"algorithm,":[85],"consider":[86],"several":[87],"algorithms,":[88],"choose":[90],"right":[92],"one":[93],"for":[94],"circumstances.":[96]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2021,"cited_by_count":2}],"updated_date":"2025-11-06T03:46:38.306776","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}