[holtalanm]

I think it really depends on the level to which you use tools like JIRA, and it also depends on how involved the developers are in the project planning.

We use JIRA, but our PMs understand the importance of fixing things that are broken. Refactoring code is usually added as a subtask to stories that have to deal with the code that needs refactored.

I will agree that micro-managing is not a good way to do software development, but many times if you just go pure laissez fair then a lot of times projects go off the rails.