Abstract
The use of lean software development methodology and business model experimentation has become popular in software companies in recent years. Business model experimentation is used to validate assumptions made on a product from real customers before the actual product is created. A minimum viable product is used to test the business model by gathering and measuring customer feedback. However, in many cases creating a minimum viable product requires the development team to take shortcuts and workarounds in the product. This phenomenon in software development is called ‘technical debt’, where companies trade long-term software quality to short-term gain in time-to-market. We investigated four software companies and conducted nine interviews to understand the relationship between business model experimentation and technical debt. The goal was to study how business model experimentation is affecting to technical debt. The results showed that business model experimentation has a clear relationship to technical debt.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ries, E.: The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, 1st edn. Crown Business, New York (2011)
Cunningham, W.: The WyCash Portfolio Management System, Experience Report (1992)
Teece, D.J.: Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation. Long Range Planning 43(2-3), 172–194 (2010)
Zott, C., Amit, R.: Business Model Design: An Activity System Perspective. Long Range Planning 43(2-3), 216–226 (2010)
Casadesus-Masanell, R., Ricart, J.E.: From Strategy to Business Models and onto Tactics. Long Range Planning 43(2-3), 195–215 (2010)
McGrath, R.G.: Business Models: A Discovery Driven Approach. Long Range Planning 43(2-3), 247–261 (2010)
Doz, Y.L., Kosonen, M.: Embedding Strategic Agility: A Leadership Agenda for Accelerating Business Model Renewal. Long Range Planning 43(2-3), 370–382 (2010)
Bock, A.J., Opsahl, T., George, G., Gann, D.M.: The Effects of Culture and Structure on Strategic Flexibility during Business Model Innovation. Journal of Management Studies 49(2), 279–305 (2012)
Markides, C.: Disruptive Innovation: In Need of Better Theory*. Journal of Product Innovation Management 23(1), 19–25 (2006)
Casadesus-Masanell, R., Zhu, F.: Business model innovation and competitive imitation: The case of sponsor-based business models. Strat. Mgmt. J. 34(4), 464–482 (2013)
Mintzberg, H., Waters, J.A.: Of strategies, deliberate and emergent. Strat. Mgmt. J. 6(3), 257–272 (1985)
Dunford, R., Palmer, I., Benveniste, J.: Business Model Replication for Early and Rapid Internationalisation: The ING Direct Experience. Long Range Planning 43(5-6), 655–674 (2010)
Chesbrough, H.: Business Model Innovation: Opportunities and Barriers. Long Range Planning 43(2-3), 354–363 (2010)
Blank, S.: The Four Steps to the Epiphany, 2nd edn. K&S Ranch (2013)
Yli-Huumo, J., Maglyas, A., Smolander, K.: The Sources and Approaches to Management of Technical Debt: A Case Study of Two Product Lines in a Middle-Size Finnish Software Company. In: Jedlitschka, A., Kuvaja, P., Kuhrmann, M., Männistö, T., Münch, J., Raatikainen, M. (eds.) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement, pp. 93–107. Springer International Publishing (2014)
Tom, E., Aurum, A., Vidgen, R.: An exploration of technical debt. Journal of Systems and Software 86(6), 1498–1516 (2013)
Halbesleben, J.R.B., Wakefield, D.S., Wakefield, B.J.: Work-arounds in health care settings: Literature review and research agenda. Health Care Manage. Rev. 33(1), 2–12 (2008)
Corbett, A., Covin, J.G., O’Connor, G.C., Tucci, C.L.: Corporate Entrepreneurship: State-of-the-Art Research and a Future Research Agenda. J. Prod. Innov. Manag. 30(5), 812–820 (2013)
C. ©. M. I. of Technology and 1977-2015 All rights reserved, “Why Companies Should Have Open Business Models. MIT Sloan Management Review
McConnell, S.: Technical Debt-10x Software Development | Construx ( November 1, 2007), http://www.construx.com/10x_Software_Development/Technical_Debt/ (accessed: December 02, 2014)
Bourgeois III., L.J.: Strategic Goals, Perceived Uncertainty, and Economic Performance in Volatile Environments. The Academy of Management Journal 28(3), 548–573 (1985)
Hannabuss, S.: Research interviews. New Library World 97(5), 22–30 (1996)
Chesbrough, H.: Business model innovation: it’s not just about technology anymore. Strategy & Leadership 35(6), 12–17 (2007)
Chow, T., Cao, D.-B.: A survey study of critical success factors in agile software projects. Journal of Systems and Software 81(6), 961–971 (2008)
Mens, T., Tourwé, T.: A Survey of Software Refactoring. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 30(2), 126–139 (2004)
Middleton, P., Joyce, D.: Lean Software Management: BBC Worldwide Case Study. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 59(1), 20–32 (2012)
Jun, M., Yang, Z., Kim, D.: Customers’ perceptions of online retailing service quality and their satisfaction. Int. J. Qual. & Reliability Mgmt. 21(8), 817–840 (2004)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Yli-Huumo, J., Rissanen, T., Maglyas, A., Smolander, K., Sainio, LM. (2015). The Relationship Between Business Model Experimentation and Technical Debt. In: Fernandes, J., Machado, R., Wnuk, K. (eds) Software Business. ICSOB 2015. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 210. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19593-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19593-3_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19592-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19593-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)