Context: Previous research in the Technical Debt (TD) field has mainly focused on the technical and economic aspects, while its human aspect has received minimal attention. Objective: This paper aims to understand how software developers’ morale is influenced by TD and how their morale is influenced by TD management activities. Furthermore, this study correlates the morale with the amount of wastage of time due to TD. Method: Firstly, we conducted 15 interviews with professionals, and, secondly, these data were complemented with a survey. Thirdly, we collected 473 data points from 43 developers reporting their amount of wasted time. The collected data were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative techniques, including thematic and statistical analysis. Results: Our results show that the occurrence of TD is associated with a lack of progress and waste of time. This might have a negative influence on developers’ morale. Further, management of TD seems to have a positive influence on developers’ morale. Conclusions: The results highlight the effects TD has on practitioners’ software work. This study presents results indicating that software suffering from TD reduces developers’ morale and thereby also their productivity. However, our results also indicate that TD management increases developers’ morale and developer productivity.

中文翻译：

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技术债务对软件开发人员士气的影响

背景：之前技术债务 (TD) 领域的研究主要集中在技术和经济方面，而其人的方面却很少受到关注。目的：本文旨在了解软件开发人员的士气如何受到 TD 的影响，以及他们的士气如何受到 TD 管理活动的影响。此外，这项研究将士气与由于 TD 造成的时间浪费量相关联。方法：首先，我们对专业人士进行了15次访谈，其次，这些数据补充了一项调查。第三，我们从 43 名开发人员那里收集了 473 个数据点，报告了他们浪费的时间。使用定量和定性技术分析收集到的数据，包括专题和统计分析。结果：我们的结果表明，TD 的发生与缺乏进展和浪费时间有关。这可能会对开发人员的士气产生负面影响。此外，TD 的管理似乎对开发商的士气有积极的影响。结论：结果突出了 TD 对从业者软件工作的影响。这项研究的结果表明，遭受 TD 影响的软件会降低开发人员的士气，从而也降低他们的生产力。然而，我们的结果也表明 TD 管理提高了开发人员的士气和开发人员的生产力。这项研究的结果表明，遭受 TD 影响的软件会降低开发人员的士气，从而也降低他们的生产力。然而，我们的结果也表明 TD 管理提高了开发人员的士气和开发人员的生产力。这项研究的结果表明，遭受 TD 影响的软件会降低开发人员的士气，从而也降低他们的生产力。然而，我们的结果也表明 TD 管理提高了开发人员的士气和开发人员的生产力。