Technical Debt Management in Agile Context: A new framework and case study in a large financial institution

Background: Agile approaches and practices have become pervasive in the software industry. The principles of this methodology consistently prioritize technical excellence and the advancement of sustainable development, leading to the creation of high-quality code that aims to minimize Technical Debt (TD). However, the agile methodology does not guarantee the absence of software TD; it must be closely managed to maintain control. Objective: This research proposes a more systematic framework that helps manage TD in agile development environments. Method: Apart from the framework for TD management, we conducted a case study in an agile development team to improve our understanding of the practical application of the proposed TD management framework while considering its positive and negative effects on software management. Results: This study presents a TD management framework based on Planning Poker for size prediction, evaluating the negative impact of TD as a variable, and a proposal for assigning value to the priority of TD items to facilitate the decision to pay for them. Conclusions: The proposed framework was verified to help manage TD in agile development environments. The outcomes of our study offer potential usefulness for professionals seeking a more methodical approach to evaluating and prioritizing TD payment.