Technical Debt Identification and assessment in mechatronic systems applying indicators, patterns, and metrics - TDebituM

• Applicant: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Birgit Vogel-Heuser
• Subject Area: Software Engineering and Programming Languages ; Automation, Mechatronics, Control Systems, Intelligent Technical Systems, Robotics
• Term: from 2021 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 451267453

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

Technical decisions that yield short-term benefits but prove to be adverse and costly in the long-run are often made because their full implications, impact, and remediation measures are not adequately assessed or underestimated. This phenomenon, referred to as Technical Debt (TD) in software systems, is not confined to software but also extends to mechanical and electrical aspects in mechatronic products and production systems. However, TD in mechatronics, which encompasses the systems themselves and their development, has been underexplored. Therefore, the proposed research project focused on identifying TD in mechatronics, as well as evaluating its criticality and consequences. Mechatronic products and production systems, as technical systems composed of mechanical, electrical/electronic, and software components, were examined. TDebituM expanded the understanding of TD in software systems to include TD characteristics in mechatronics, engineering, and additional lifecycle phases. Within the TDebituM project, TD incidents and their properties – were meticulously investigated across various organizations and disciplines using tools such as the Goal-Question-Metric, semi-structured interviews, and manual coding. An in-depth analysis of 80 expert interviews from 24 companies uncovered 186 TD incidents, comprising 507 specific TD elements. TDebituM identified key TD categories, including requirements, process, infrastructure, design, documentation, and test TD, along with the unique challenges associated with mechatronics. A subsequent study with 15 experts from nine companies examined the frequency and impact of TD using an online questionnaire. This comparison revealed a significant discrepancy between the occurrence frequency and the impact of TD, simultaneously identifying the TD types with the highest impact within the mechatronic domains, i.e., Requirements TD, Variants TD, Architectural TD, and Infrastructural TD. Furthermore, TDebituM explored correlations, causations, and patterns among TD characteristics through hypothesis testing and sequential pattern analysis, leading to an adjustment of the Dagstuhl 16162 TD meta-model while presenting a pioneering study on causal relationships. To analyze the TD contagiousness within the system, suitable metrics have been developed are applicable to all TD types. Additionally, a prototypical visualization and interaction platform was iteratively created. This allowed TDebituM to expand the state of the art in TD research for software systems to encompass TD characteristics in mechatronics, engineering, and other lifecycle stages.

Publications

• Auswirkung und Folgen Technischer Schuld in mechatronischen Systemen und daraus resultierende Anforderungen. Automation 2021, 705-712. VDI Verlag.
  Bi, F.; Vogel-Heuser, B. & Dettmering, H.
  
• Frequency and Impact of Technical Debt Characteristics in Companies Producing Mechatronic Products. 2021 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Technical Debt (TechDebt), 26-35. IEEE.
  Bi, Fandi; Vogel-Heuser, Birgit & Xu, Litong
  
• Characteristics, Causes, and Consequences of Technical Debt in the Automation Domain. SSRN Electronic Journal.
  Bi, Fandi; Vogel-Heuser, Birgit; Huang, Ziyi & Ocker, Felix
  
• "Workshop (accepted): Tracking Down Lazy Compromises in Interdisciplinary Engineering (Technical Debt)". In: IFAC World Congress, 2023.
  B. Vogel-Heuser, F. Bi, A. Kraft & B. Vojanec
  
• Managing Technical Debt in Automation: Best Practices and Cross-Life-Cycle Strategies. 2023 IEEE 21st International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN), 1-8. IEEE.
  Bi, Fandi; Vogel-Heuser, Birgit; Huang, Ziyi; Land, Kathrin & Ocker, Felix
  
• Technical Debt Contagiousness Metrics for Measurement and Prioritization in Mechatronics. 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Technical Debt (TechDebt), 42-51. IEEE.
  Bi, Fandi; Vogel-Heuser, Birgit; Du, Fengmin; Hanich, Nils & Cho, Ennuri
  
• Towards an Interdisciplinary Technical Debt Interaction and Visualization Tool. 2023 IEEE 6th International Conference on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPS), 1-8. IEEE.
  Bi, Fandi; Vogel-Heuser, Birgit & Sapera, Edgar Benet