Date of Conferral

4-30-2026

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Management

Advisor

Gwendolyn Dooley

Abstract

A lack of effective strategies for managing software technical debt (TD) can negatively affect organizational performance. Software leaders are concerned that unmanaged TD threatens business growth and competitiveness. Grounded in bounded rationality theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore effective strategies used by software leaders to reduce software TD. The participants were six senior software leaders from private software companies in the United States. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and the review of publicly available industry reports. Through thematic analysis, four themes were identified: (a) balancing product delivery and technical health; (b) leadership, stewardship, and organizational alignment; (c) nature and drivers of TD; and (d) processes and tools for managing TD. A key recommendation is that aligning short-term business objectives with long-term system health is critical for effective technical debt (TD) management. The implications for positive social change include the potential for software leaders to implement governance practices that enhance system reliability, thereby supporting the delivery of dependable digital services that benefit organizations and the communities they serve.

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