Technical debt in systems engineering—A systematic literature review
Howard Kleinwaks, Ann Batchelor, Thomas H. Bradley
Abstract
Abstract The metaphor of “technical debt” is used in software engineering to describe technical solutions that may be pragmatic in the near‐term but may have a negative long‐term impact. Similar decisions and similar dynamics are present in the field of systems engineering. This work investigates the current body of knowledge to identify if, and how, the technical debt metaphor is used within the systems engineering field and which systems engineering lifecycle stages are most susceptible to technical debt. A systematic literature review was conducted on 354 papers in February 2022, of which 18 were deemed relevant for inclusion in the study. The results of the systematic literature review show that the technical debt metaphor is not prevalent within systems engineering research and that existing research is limited to specific fields and theoretical discussions. This paper concludes with recommendations for future work to establish a research agenda on the identification and management of technical debt within systems engineering.