Management of Technical Debt in Startups: A Systematic Mapping

Abstract

This study explores the state of the art of Technical Debt (TD) in software startups, seeking to understand the approaches, methods, and techniques used to manage this issue. TD is a concept that refers to suboptimal technical decisions made to accelerate development, such as implementing code or design that later requires revision to avoid future problems. In startups, where speed and innovation are essential for growth, the pressure to quickly release products often leads to the accumulation of TD. Although this offers short-term benefits, such as faster feature releases, in the long term, it can compromise product quality, increase maintenance costs, and reduce the ability to scale the business. We conducted the study through a systematic literature mapping and analyzed articles from the Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and ACM Digital Library databases. The authors selected fourteen studies published between 2017 and 2024. The analysis revealed that practitioners and researchers still lack standardized practices and tools for efficiently managing TD. Furthermore, the research highlights the need for more empirical studies that consider the specific context of startups, where limited resources and the need for accelerated innovation create unique challenges for TD management. The mapping carried out highlights the fragmentation of current approaches and the lack of a unified framework for managing TD in startups. The authors therefore conclude that there is a need to develop and empirically validate strategic models that integrate technical, human, and business aspects to prove more effective solutions for this specific context.