Technical Debt Prioritization: State of the Art. A Systematic Literature Review

Background. Software companies need to manage and refactor Technical Debt issues. Therefore, it is necessary to understand if and when refactoring Technical Debt should be prioritized with respect to developing features or fixing bugs. Objective. The goal of this study is to investigate the existing body of knowledge in software engineering to understand what Technical Debt prioritization approaches have been proposed in research and industry. Method. We conducted a Systematic Literature Review among 384 unique papers published until 2018, following a consolidated methodology applied in Software Engineering. We included 38 primary studies. Results. Different approaches have been proposed for Technical Debt prioritization, all having different goals and optimizing on different criteria. The proposed measures capture only a small part of the plethora of factors used to prioritize Technical Debt qualitatively in practice. We report an impact map of such factors. However, there is a lack of empirical and validated set of tools. Conclusion. We observed that technical Debt prioritization research is preliminary and there is no consensus on what are the important factors and how to measure them. Consequently, we cannot consider current research conclusive and in this paper, we outline different directions for necessary future investigations

Can Encouraging Voluntary Development of Environmental Management Systems Augment Existing Regulations?

Encouraging firms to voluntarily develop environmental management systems (EMSs) has been described as a potential policy tool for achieving environmental objectives in Georgia. We survey current thinking on the subject and note several shortcomings in current methods used to evaluate what motivates private firms to adopt comprehensive EMSs. Using a unique dataset of environmental management practices of Japanese manufacturers, we find that consumer pressures, regulatory pressures, and market power are major factors that motivate firms to develop comprehensive EMSs. We also find that after controlling for self-selection bias in survey response, the effects of regulatory pressures become more significant and larger in magnitude. These results suggest that although encouraging development of EMSs has the potential to augment existing regulations, the regulatory tools are fundamental to the success of such voluntary approaches. Working Paper Number 2005-001

Using Automatic Static Analysis to Identify Technical Debt

The technical debt (TD) metaphor describes a tradeoff between short-term and long-term goals in software development. Developers, in such situations, accept compromises in one dimension (e.g. maintainability) to meet an urgent demand in another dimension (e.g. delivering a release on time). Since TD produces interests in terms of time spent to correct the code and accomplish quality goals, accumulation of TD in software systems is dangerous because it could lead to more difficult and expensive maintenance. The research presented in this paper is focused on the usage of automatic static analysis to identify Technical Debt at code level with respect to different quality dimensions. The methodological approach is that of Empirical Software Engineering and both past and current achieved results are presented, focusing on functionality, efficiency and maintainabilit

The impact of an innovative human resource function on firm performance: the moderating role of financing strategy

The current study examined the impact of the human resource function and financing strategy on the financial performance of 104 UK manufacturing firms. Hypotheses are drawn from a resource-based perspective on human resource management and a financial theory perspective on capital structure. Results show that an innovative HR function is significantly related to economic performance. However, the relationship between an innovative HR function and economic performance was moderated by the firm¿s financing strategy. Firms obtained higher returns from an innovative HR function when pursuing a low leveraging (debt) financing strategy, a finding consistent with modern finance theory notions that firmspecific strategic assets provide greatest value when financed primarily through equity as opposed to debt

Forced Labour: Definition, Indicators and Measurement

Summarizes and discusses some methods that have been used for measurement, and provides some guidance for future work on the subject. The paper was first distributed in April 2003, as a background document for an eminent group of international experts and ILO officials who participated in a consultation meeting on the measurement of forced labor

Corporate governance practices in Fiji: An empirical investigation

This study investigates the nature and extent of compliance to the principle-based corporate governance initiatives by the listed companies in the South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPSE) in Fiji. Three important questions are addressed: (i) whether listed companies in Fiji have complied with the principle-based governance practices: (ii) did compliance with principle based recommendations lead to an improvement in the listed company‟s financial performance? and (iii) how the institutional factors have contributed towards corporate governance practices in Fiji? Panel data for the SPSE companies over the period 2008-2010 are analysed using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Tobin‟s Q, Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation to Total Revenue (EBITDA2REV) metrics are used as dependent variables. Findings indicate that listed companies have adopted the Capital Market Development Authority‟s (CMDA) recommendations, establishing subcommittees for audit and remuneration, and having nonexecutive/ independent directors on the board. The result supports the view that the CMDA recommendations of board sub-committees (Audit and Remuneration) have had positive influence on company performance measured by Tobin‟s Q. The findings of this study give support to the principle-based corporate governance practices adopted in Fiji. The results of this study provide useful insights to both regulators and policy analysts (in Fiji and internationally) seeking to enhance both governance and firm performance in their own jurisdiction

What to Fix? Distinguishing between design and non-design rules in automated tools

Technical debt---design shortcuts taken to optimize for delivery speed---is a critical part of long-term software costs. Consequently, automatically detecting technical debt is a high priority for software practitioners. Software quality tool vendors have responded to this need by positioning their tools to detect and manage technical debt. While these tools bundle a number of rules, it is hard for users to understand which rules identify design issues, as opposed to syntactic quality. This is important, since previous studies have revealed the most significant technical debt is related to design issues. Other research has focused on comparing these tools on open source projects, but these comparisons have not looked at whether the rules were relevant to design. We conducted an empirical study using a structured categorization approach, and manually classify 466 software quality rules from three industry tools---CAST, SonarQube, and NDepend. We found that most of these rules were easily labeled as either not design (55%) or design (19%). The remainder (26%) resulted in disagreements among the labelers. Our results are a first step in formalizing a definition of a design rule, in order to support automatic detection.Comment: Long version of accepted short paper at International Conference on Software Architecture 2017 (Gothenburg, SE

Disentangling the Epistemic Failings of the 2008 Financial Crisis

I argue that epistemic failings are a significant and underappreciated moral hazard in the financial services industry. I argue further that an analysis of these epistemic failings and their means of redress is best developed by identifying policies and procedures that are likely to facilitate good judgment. These policies and procedures are “best epistemic practices.” I explain how best epistemic practices support good reasoning, thereby facilitating accurate judgments about risk and reward. Failures to promote and adhere to best epistemic practices contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. I identify and discuss some of the ways in which best epistemic practices were violated in the events that led to the crisis, with a focus on the role of the credit rating agencies. I go on to discuss some of the ways in which these failings have been redressed. I conclude by observing how proactive regulation for best epistemic practices might help us to anticipate and avoid future crises

The role of grazier motivations and risk attitudes in the adoption of grazing best management practices

The onus on landholders in relation to environmental performance is ever increasing. One tool for achieving environmental improvements is the design and promotion of region-specific ‘best management practices’ (BMPs). These are conservation practices aimed at reducing diffuse source pollution from agricultural lands and thus improving end-of-catchment water quality. A suite of grazing BMPs were developed for the Burdekin Dry Tropics region in a consultative fashion but without explicit consideration of knowledge of adoption processes. It is known from the literature that farmers’ goals and risk perceptions in particular influence adoption decisions. This paper utilises the data from an earlier grazier survey to explore to what extent grazier motivations and risk perceptions influence the adoption of BMPs. The results demonstrate clear correlations between both motivations and risk attitudes, and the adoption of recommended BMPs, with specific preferences for different BMPs. We conclude that a sound understanding of landholders’ motivations and risk attitudes is required—in a regional, industry and environmental context—to tailor programmes aimed at improving regional environmental performance.conservation practices, adoption, water quality, grazing, Burdekin River catchment, best management practices, risk management, motivations, empirical research, correlations, factor analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,

CREDIT RATING AGENCIES AND THEIR POTENTIAL IMPACT ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Credit rating agencies (CRAs) play a key role in financial markets by helping to reduce the informative asymmetry between lenders and investors, on one side, and issuers on the other side, about the creditworthiness of companies or countries. CRAs´ role has expanded with financial globalization and has received an additional boost from Basel II which incorporates the ratings of CRAs into the rules for setting weights for credit risk. Ratings tend to be sticky, lagging markets, and overreact when they do change. This overreaction may have aggravated financial crises in the recent past, contributing to financial instability and cross-country contagion. The recent bankruptcies of Enron, WorldCom, and Parmalat have prompted legislative scrutiny of the agencies. Criticism has been especially directed towards the high degree of concentration of the industry. Promotion of competition may require policy action at national and international level to encourage the establishment of new agencies and to channel business generated by new regulatory requirements in their direction.