Process Debt: a First Exploration

Process Debt, like Technical Debt, can be the\ua0source of short-term benefits but often is harmful in the long\ua0term for a software organization. However, we do not know\ua0much about Process Debt from current literature. We\ua0conducted an exploratory study of Process Debt in four\ua0international organizations by interviewing 16 practitioners.\ua0The findings show that Process Debt can be a harmful\ua0phenomenon that needs attention and new practices, as it is different from Technical Debt. We provide an initial\ua0framework, composed by a definition and a conceptual model\ua0for Process Debt, showing types, causes, consequences, and debt\ua0accumulation patterns