Agile processes and practices sensitive to technical debt - Comparison of results of a survey executed in Brazil, Finland, and New Zealand

The current scenario of software development is characterized by wide adoption of agile methodologies that define processes and practices to deal with problems faced by development teams. However, there is still little information on how these methodologies relate to the concept of technical debt(TD). This paper presents the results of a survey whose objective was to investigate whether agile practices and processes are sensitive to TD. In total, 184 participants from Brazil, Finland, and New Zealand responded to the survey. The study allowed us to observe that TD has different causes and affects the development in a way proportional to its size. It also indicated that the evaluated practices and processes are sensitive to TD. When we compared the results of each country, the answers usually pointed to the same direction, suggesting that the concept of TD is cohesive and evenly perceived by industry professionals, regardless of local development culture.