How managing technical debt can lead to more sustainable software
Bánsághi, Bence (2026)
Kandidaatintyö
2026
School of Engineering Science, Tietotekniikka
Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2026040926284
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2026040926284
Tiivistelmä
Digital architecture is a vital part of everyday life, making the long-term viability of software as crucial as physical infrastructure. This thesis investigates how the prioritization of technical debt serves as a critical part of achieving holistic software sustainability. While traditional research is divided between focusing on direct energy consumption with Green IT and focusing on development velocity and project budgets with Technical Debt Management, a significant gap exists in the literature connecting the two fields.
The research was conducted as a systematic literature review to identify, evaluate, and synthesize existing academic and industry sources, utilizing the five-dimensional sustainability model to analyse the impact of various debt types.
The results are presented through a Technical Debt-Sustainability Matrix, mapping 14 identified debt types against the five sustainability dimensions. The findings show that while technical and economic impacts are well-documented, environmental and human factors are often ignored in standard TDM frameworks. Specifically, infrastructure and configuration debt are linked to high environmental risks, while most debt types contribute to developer burnout and increased cognitive load, undermining individual sustainability. Furthermore, “Accessibility Debt” is identified as a social sustainability issue where some unmanaged choices can lead to the digital exclusion of marginalized users.
To address these gaps, the thesis proposes a Sustainability-Aware Prioritization Framework that redefines the interest of technical debt to include environmental waste, human fatigue, and the erosion of community trust. By integrating these multidimensional impacts into decision-making, organizations can transition from short-term feature delivery toward ensuring long-term viability and ethical responsibility of their software systems.
The research was conducted as a systematic literature review to identify, evaluate, and synthesize existing academic and industry sources, utilizing the five-dimensional sustainability model to analyse the impact of various debt types.
The results are presented through a Technical Debt-Sustainability Matrix, mapping 14 identified debt types against the five sustainability dimensions. The findings show that while technical and economic impacts are well-documented, environmental and human factors are often ignored in standard TDM frameworks. Specifically, infrastructure and configuration debt are linked to high environmental risks, while most debt types contribute to developer burnout and increased cognitive load, undermining individual sustainability. Furthermore, “Accessibility Debt” is identified as a social sustainability issue where some unmanaged choices can lead to the digital exclusion of marginalized users.
To address these gaps, the thesis proposes a Sustainability-Aware Prioritization Framework that redefines the interest of technical debt to include environmental waste, human fatigue, and the erosion of community trust. By integrating these multidimensional impacts into decision-making, organizations can transition from short-term feature delivery toward ensuring long-term viability and ethical responsibility of their software systems.