Breaking the flow: a study of contradictions in information systems development (ISD)

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine contradictions (specifically tertiary and quaternary contradictions) that can disrupt the flow of work in contemporary systems development methods.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses Activity theory (AT) as a theoretical lens to: examine ISD flow as an interrelated activity system; and identify contradictions. AT is pertinent in the context of this study as rather than view contradictions as a threat to prematurely abandon the use of flow tools and metrics, it shows how contradictions can act as a motor for change and continuity. This study adopts a longitudinal single case study approach including face-to-face interviews with management and software development project teams, as well as direct observations and document analysis.

Findings

This study identifies tertiary and quaternary contradictions, and highlights the influence of contradictions on flow-based systems development.

Social implications

This study provides a set of contradictions for researchers and practitioners. It shows that contradictions can be culturally or politically challenging to confront, and even when resolved, can have intended or unintended consequences.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to study ISD flow from the perspective of interrelated activity systems and beyond its initial implementation phase.

Managing Software Development Projects for Success: Aligning Plan- and Agility-Based Approaches to Project Complexity and Project Dynamism

In general, project complexity and project dynamism are recognized as potent characteristics that influence, usually in a negative way, the outcome of software development projects. However, with respect to the two dominant paradigms for managing software development projects (i.e., plan-based project approach and agility-based project approach), there is less agreement as to which one is better. Emerging research suggests that the preeminence of one approach over another is a matter of fit between the project management approach and the project context, including its complexity and dynamism. We contribute to this line of research by studying the moderating influence of the two project management approaches on the relationship between project complexity and project dynamism on project outcomes. Our analysis of data gathered from a survey of software development professionals shows that managing dynamism is critical for realizing project success, and an agility-based project approach is best suited for mitigating dynamism’s negative effects on project success.

BARRIERS TO RADICAL INNOVATIONS AS STABLE DESIGNS: INSIGHTS FROM AN IT CASE STUDY

Radical innovations start as product innovations in sub-systems of the socio-technical system. External triggers cause product innovations which in turn influence transitions of a socio-technical system. Socio-technical systems require configurations and/or customisations to multiple sub-systems not necessarily to ICT alone. Expansions to product innovations in the sub-systems are required to provide meaningful designs. Actors combine meaningful designs of various sub-systems and devise solutions and its adoption. Product innovations cumulate as stable designs when solutions meet end-users wants and needs, and require changes to policies, procedures, and methods used during devising and adoption of the solution. In other words, we require process innovations. The author using a single case study examines the above phenomena. The methods and theories towards process innovations assist in expanding the existing socio-technical transition theories, especially Multi-Level Perspective (MLP), thereby assisting actors in analysing, learning, adjusting, and internalise innovations while they navigate, struggle, and negotiate alternatives.

Review and critique of the information systems development project failure literature: An argument for exploring information systems development project distress

High failure rates of information systems development (ISD) projects continue to trouble organizations and information systems practices. Such a state of affairs has been of great concern for the information systems discipline for decades, motivating information systems researchers to focus on and extensively study ISD project failure. However, the increasing complexity and uncertainty of ISD projects and contemporary system development processes are challenging ISD project failure scholarship. In this article, we ask the questions: What are the contributions and weaknesses of the extant ISD project failure/success literature? What are potential avenues to move the ISD literature forward? To answer these questions, first, we present a literature review that assesses research contributions within the major perspectives on ISD failure (i.e. rationalist, process and narrative). While the extant research within all perspectives make significant contributions to knowledge, we find that researchers remain preoccupied with ‘project failure’ as an end state of an ISD project. They pay little attention to problematic situations arising during ISD projects before they become failed projects. Based on the review and critique of the literature, we then argue that there is a significant benefit in extending research focus from ISD project failure to ‘ISD project distress’, which we define as a harmful project condition involving dynamic and fluid constellation of critical problems that are difficult to identify, understand and resolve. While ISD project distress is an increasingly perilous and consequential phenomenon, little is known about its nature and potential responses. Drawing from the sensemaking literature, we propose a multilevel theoretical framework for understanding the nature and sources of ISD project distress that provides a foundation for exploring early detection and timely response. We demonstrate the theoretical and practical relevance of the concept of ISD project distress and propose a corresponding research agenda.

Constructing Governance Framework of a Green and Smart Port

Developing a green and smart port is a significant progress in the specific application of energy conservation and emission reduction as well as intelligent technologies in global ports and maritime shipping sectors. The paper aims to analyze the inherent relationships among different structural factors and proposes specific countermeasures and governance policies for green and smart port construction. It uses interpretive structural modeling analysis to divide the factors into different levels, and draws a model map of green and smart port construction structure. The research result contributes to providing a theoretical basis for governments to formulate a green and smart port policies and establishing effective method systems and technical means for the port industry and stakeholders to leverage intelligent port technologies for the port development.

Proposing an innovation-based view of the firm

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on theories of the firm and argues for the importance of an innovation-based view (IBV). In doing so, it examines the incumbent management theories of the firm, resource-based view (RBV), knowledge-based view (KBV) and dynamic capabilities, considering the recent developments in the academic literature and in the nature of the firm. The research approach of abduction (conceiving of theory) proposed by Peirce and described by Van de Ven is used. A conceptual framework that incorporates the growing influence of information and communications technology and open innovation on the characteristics of the firm is developed. The managerial tradition that originated in the scholarship of Edith Penrose is used to develop the framework, as opposed to the lens of economic ‘black box’ theories.

Under Pressure

The iterative cycles used in agile software development create a series of deadlines for project teams. We investigate the optimal iteration length under behavioral conditions for agile software projects. Based on system dynamics simulation, we argue that both very long (as in sequential development) and very short (monthly) iterative cycles create huge and disruptive fluctuations in schedule pressure experienced by the team. These lead to poor performance in terms of quality, as well as costs and time compared with optimal iterative cycles of two to three months. The monthly cycles used in many agile practices might be too short to ensure optimal performance.

Portfolios of Agile Projects

While agile approaches can be extremely effective at a project level, they can impose significant complexity and a need for adaptiveness at the project portfolio level. While this has proven to be highly problematic, there is little research on how to manage a set of agile projects at the project portfolio level. What limited research that does exist often assumes that portfolio-level agility can be achieved by simply scaling project level agile approaches such as Scrum. This study uses a complex adaptive systems lens, focusing specifically on the properties of projects as agents in a complex adaptive portfolio to critically appraise current thinking on portfolio management in an agile context. We then draw on a set of 30 expert interviews to develop 16 complex adaptive systems (CAS)-based propositions as to how portfolios of agile projects can be managed effectively. We also outline an agenda for future research and discuss the differences between a CAS-based approach to portfolio management and traditional approaches.

A Research Agenda for Extending Agile Practices In Software Development and Additional Task Domains

This article is intended to serve as an introduction to this special issue on agile practices. In doing so, we briefly survey a number of key issues that are emerging in the application of agile practices to software development (SWD) and, similarly, examine recent work on extending knowledge about these practices to other task domains. We note that the extant literature on agile practices has been criticized for lacking a theoretical basis and comment on various ways that a theory orientation can enhance the accumulation of knowledge in this area. We also address issues that expand our current understanding of agile practices as they apply to non-SWD tasks. We present a framework for surfacing and discussing some of these emergent issues. We comment on the articles in this special issue and situate them within the research framework. We discuss some of the topics we think are likely to become influential as agile practices move outside the SWD domain and, finally, we present some summarizing observations.

Toward an Improved Understanding of Agile Project Governance

The purpose of this study is to provide understanding of project governance practices in agile projects. A systematic review of the previous agile literature is conducted to identify and categorize agile project governance practices, which are synthesized in a six-dimensional framework. The study contributes to the literature by contrasting traditional and agile project governance practices and by identifying new practices emerging in agile projects, while also noting remaining gaps in knowledge. The implications of this study enable managers to identify and apply feasible governance practices that can support better agile project performance.

Coordinating Knowledge Work in Multiteam Programs

Software development projects have undergone remarkable changes with the arrival of agile development approaches. Although intended for small, self-managing teams, these approaches are used today for large development programs. A major challenge of such programs is coordinating many teams. This case study describes the coordination of knowledge work in a large-scale agile development program with 12 teams. The findings highlight coordination modes based on feedback, the use of a number of mechanisms, and how coordination practices change over time. The findings can improve the outcomes of large knowledge-based development programs by tailoring coordination practices to needs over time.

Identifying Challenges and a Research Agenda for Flow in Software Project Management

Flow and its associated tools and metrics are increasingly being reported as an approach used to achieve continuous deployment of software and delivery of value in software development projects. Yet, the extant literature on flow tools to date is rather limited. Also, what does exist tends to largely focus on the generic version of flow, rather than any rigorous examination of its use in the turbulent and constantly changing ‘real world’ environment within which it is applied. This study draws on a longitudinal case to identify the challenges of implementing flow and to provide a research agenda for flow project management.

Explaining the emergence of team agility: a complex adaptive systems perspective

Purpose

Agile software development helps software producing organizations to respond to manifold challenges. While prior research focused on agility as a project or process phenomenon, the authors suggest that agility is an emergent phenomenon on the team level. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the theory of complex adaptive systems (CASs), the study captures the multiple influencing levels of software development teams (SDTs) and their interplay with self-organization and emergence. The authors investigate three agile SDTs in different contextual environments that participate with four or more different roles each.

Findings

The results suggest self-organization as a central process when understanding team agility. While contextual factors often provide restriction on self-organization, they can help the team to enhance its autonomy.

Research limitations/implications

The theoretical contributions result from the development and test of theory grounded propositions and the investigation of mature agile development teams.

Practical implications

The findings help practitioners to improve the cost-effectiveness ratio of their team’s operations.

Originality/value

The study provides empirical evidence for the emergence of team agility in agile SDTs. Using the lens of CAS, the study suggests the importance of the team’s autonomy.

Age stereotypes in agile software development – an empirical study of performance expectations

Purpose

Research on agile software development (ASD) has so far primarily focused on processes and tools. Recently, researchers have started to investigate the social dimensions of ASD. The authors contribute to this and examine the largely invisible psychological factor of age stereotypes as one important social dimension of ASD. Driven by demographic change, employees of different age groups will need to work closely together in ASD in the future. However, age stereotypes can hinder many aspects of communication, cooperation and coordination in these self-managed teams. The purpose of this paper is to identify and differentiate age stereotypes in ASD.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative survey at the individual level was conducted with 464 employees in two software development companies. The authors developed an age stereotype model for ASD and developed two scales to measure performance expectations (PEs) in ASD.

Findings

Employees in ASD show a bias in general PEs, favoring middle-aged employees over both younger and older employees. The perceived PE of a developer decreases over working life. Furthermore, the data show a complex interplay of age and job role in both the research participants and the group evaluated. Younger developers hold the strongest negative age stereotypes and older developers suffer most from stereotypes.

Practical implications

Management should enact formal or informal measures against stereotypes when an older or younger employee joins a team of members of other age groups, or when a new team is formed. In addition, the authors propose human resources to create permeable career paths.

Originality/value

The study extends the stereotype content model by adding additional age groups and including job role as a moderating variable. It identifies obstacles in daily employee interactions in agile development, and proposes ways of incorporating invisible psychological aspects in ASD-specific theories.

The translation and adaptation of agile methods: a discourse of fragmentation and articulation

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use translation theory to develop a framework (called FTRA) that explains how companies adopt agile methods in a discourse of fragmentation and articulation.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative multiple case study of six firms using the Scrum agile methodology. Data were collected using mixed methods and analyzed using three progressive coding cycles and analytic induction.

Findings

In practice, people translate agile methods for local settings by choosing fragments of the method and continuously re-articulating them according to the exact needs of the time and place. The authors coded the fragments as technological rules that share relationships within a framework spanning two dimensions: static-dynamic and actor-artifact.

Research limitations/implications

For consistency, the six cases intentionally represent one instance of agile methodology (Scrum). This limits the confidence that the framework is suitable for other kinds of methodologies.

Practical implications

The FTRA framework and the technological rules are promising for use in practice as a prescriptive or even normative frame for governing methodology adaptation.

Social implications

Framing agile adaption with translation theory surfaces how the discourse between translocal (global) and local practice yields the social construction of agile methods. This result contrasts the more functionalist engineering perspective and privileges changeability over performance.

Originality/value

The use of translation theory and the FTRA framework to explain how agile adaptation (in particular Scrum) emerges continuously in a process where method fragments are articulated and re-articulated to momentarily suit the local setting. Complete agility that rapidly and elegantly changes its own environment must, as a concomitant, rapidly and elegantly change itself. This understanding also elaborates translation theory by explaining how the articulation and re-articulation of ideas embody the means by which ideas travel in practice.

Agile Methods on Large Projects in Large Organizations

Agile methods have taken software development by storm but have been primarily applied to projects in what is referred to as the “agile sweet spot,” which consists of small collocated teams working on small, non-critical, green field, in-house software projects with stable architectures and simple governance rules. These methods are being used more and more on large projects, but little documentation is available in the academic literature. This article investigates the adoption and adaptation of agile methods for use on large projects in large organizations. The empirical study is based first on case studies, followed by a survey to validate and enrich the case study results. The results are somewhat paradoxical in that some features are common to almost all observations, whereas others show extreme variability. The common features include use of Scrum methodology and agile coaches, as well as the non-respect of the agile principle of emergent architecture.

How Agile Practices Impact Customer Responsiveness and Development Success: A Field Study

Agile information systems development methods have become popular; however, which specific agile practice to use remains unclear. We argue that three types of agile practices exist—for management, development, and standards—which affect the customer responsiveness of software teams differently. We examine this theory in a field study of a large organization. We find that agile practices improve software team response effectiveness or efficiency, but not both. Agile standards do not improve response mechanisms but are still important to successful information systems development. Our findings help discriminating agile practices and yield insights into how information development projects should be managed.

Exploring the Role of Project Management in the Development of the Academic Agile Software Discourse: A Bibliometric Analysis

The practical applications of agile methods and their impact on the productivity and efficiency of software development dominate the agile literature. We analyzed 827 academic articles with bibliometric techniques to explore the role project management research played in the development of the academic agile discourse. Bibliometric analyses over two time periods reveal that project management–related topics form a distinct stream of research in the second time period but not in the first. Furthermore, our results reveal that the academic agile discussion has been mainly unidirectional. This situation offers many opportunities for project management researchers to contribute to the agile discourse.

An Objective Compliance Analysis of Project Management Process in Main Agile Methodologies with the ISO/IEC 29110 Entry Profile

Software Process Improvement efforts (SPI) are pursued by organizations for improving the overall quality of their software development processes. However, very small entities (VSEs) avoid them by the lack of required financial and other organizational resources. In contrast, VSEs use agile software development methodologies (ASDMs), but these ASDMs do not foster adherence to best scholastic practices promoted by SPI. Furthermore, while a new ISO/IEC standard (29110) has been recently released for VSEs, it was not designed taking account the ASDM approaches. Thus, we investigate the extent of adherence of main ASDMs (two industrial and one academic type) with this new standard. Initial results provide evidence on the strong need to enhance the two industrial ASDMs (XP and SCRUM). In contrast, the academic ASDM (UPEDU) fits the standard very well but it is scarcely used by VSEs. Hence, it is concluded that there is a knowledge gap between the praxis with ASDMs and the recommended scholastic software processes like the ISO/IEC 29110 standard for VSEs.

Situated Boundary Spanning

Requirements Engineering (RE) faces considerable challenges that are often related to boundaries between various stakeholders involved in the software development process. These challenges may be addressed by boundary spanning practices. We examine how boundary spanning can be adapted to address RE challenges in Product Family Development (PFD), a context that involves complex RE. We study two different development approaches, namely, conventional and agile PFD, because these present considerably different challenges. Our findings from a multisite case study present boundary spanning as a solution to improve the quality of RE processes and highlight interesting differences in how boundary spanner roles and boundary objects are adapted in conventional and agile PFD.

ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFUSION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON RIVER BASINS (WATERSHEDS) IN BRAZIL

River basins or watershed areas have suffered great impact due to deforestation and pollution, which in turn also comprises decrease in the volume of water in rivers involved. Current research overviews scientific literature related to the theme "Watershed", published between 2002 and 2012, and assess the scientific contribution. The research method consists of an exploratory bibliographical survey of Brazilian research on the above-mentioned subject retrieved from the database Web of Science (WoS). Data treatment was conducted through a bibliometric analysis to identify institutions with greater representation in publications and citations by region. The bibliometric analysis was performed with software developed in Delphi language and types of Microsoft Excel® software, Ucinet®, NetDraw® and ArcGIS® that enabled the development of graphical representations related to publications and citations by regions. When the analysis of bibliometric indicators was analyzed, the most productive institutions were mapped and the impact and visibility of their publications and relationships that occurred in collaboration between researchers from major institutions were evaluated. Research related to the theme "Watershed" has its largest production between physically close institutions. This fact shows the need for government action, through investments, for the integration of researchers from different regions to construct a national coverage for these networks. Finally, the Southeast Region of Brazil should be underscored due to its production of more than 50% of publications and citations out of the national total.

Aligning IT for future business value

IS research has predominately studied the alignment of existing IT applications with current strategies. This provides an assessment of the current business value of IT. However, given IT investments are long-term and given that contemporary firms evolve in highly dynamic environments, it is also important to consider the alignment of IT applications that are under development. These applications affect the future business value of IT. This paper rethinks the notion of alignment to include IT applications in development. It conceptualizes the notion of IT project portfolio alignment and develops and tests a model that measures portfolio alignment in a bottom-up process based on individual IT projects. Several formulation methods are proposed and compared.

The evolution of agile software development in Brazil

Agile software development methods have been increasingly adopted worldwide and became one of the mainstream software development approaches. Agile methods have also had an impact on software engineering education with universities adapting their courses to accommodate this new form of software development. Software engineering research has tried to evaluate the impact of agile methods in industrial projects and discover in which situations it is beneficial to apply such methods. However, there are almost no studies focusing on the progress of the agile movement in Brazil. In this paper, we present an overview of the evolution of the agile movement in Brazil, outlining the history of its first advocates in academia and industry. We describe existing educational initiatives, discuss the impact of the agile development on the national research, and present a report on the agile state-of-the-practice in the Brazilian IT industry.