This paper identifies and discusses the persistent problems and development practices of information systems development (ISD). A critical examination and comparison of past times ' 'traditional' and present-day 'web-based' development shows that contemporary ISD can be seen as an accentuated evolutionrather than a revolution -of well-known challenges and solutions. On this basis, (1) diversity; (2) knowledge; and (3) structure are identified as inherent and interrelated problems, while the practices for coping with these three challenges are (a) organization and specialization; (b) constant verbal communication and negotiation; and (c) pragmatic application of certain development methods and methodical concepts. We conclude that more research on the occurrence and interaction of problems and practices at, and between, different contextual levels (e.g. the business environment, company, project, team and individual levels) is needed to understand and assess (the gap between) 'observed practice' and 'good practice' across the many types of Web and non-Web ISD projects conducted today. We outline a possible research agenda to investigate these issues. Keywords: information systems development, empirical studies of ISD practice I N T R O D U C T I O NInformation and communication technologies are rapidly evolving. Hardware processing and storage capacities have been increasing at tremendous rates and computer-based devices and applications are spreading into nearly every human life sphere. The tools, techniques and processes used for producing information systems (IS) are undergoing profound changes as well. High-level languages and program generators have replaced machine languages. Similarly, ad hoc approaches to information systems development (ISD) have been replaced by development methods supported by powerful CASE tools, and new systems are now rarely built from scratch, but based on standard software packages or assembled from module libraries.Unsurprisingly, these changes are accompanied by frequent claims about their fundamental and paradigmatic nature. Already in the mid-1960s, early third-generation languages such as K Kautz et al.
This paper reports on action research undertaken to understand and to improve the problems with software processes of a medium-sized Danish company. It is argued that, in order to understand what the specific problems are, we may, on the one hand, rely on normative process models like CMM or Bootstrap. On the other hand, we may also see the specific and unique features of software processes in a company through what we call "problem diagnosis." Problem diagnosis deals with ellciting problems perceived by software professionals and with forming commitment to enable software process improvement to effectively take place. A central purpose of problem diagnosis is to base the SPI project on the software developers' own perceptions of software process problems and suggestions for improvement rather than on the prescriptions and norms of a maturity model
Software Process Improvement (SPI) is an approach to systematic and continuous improvement of a software producing organization's ability to produce and deliver quality software within time and budget constraints. SPI initiatives often experience difficulties and problems when the improvements are going to be implemented and institutionalized in the organization's daily practices.In this paper we discuss the learning processes that take place in SPI based on an analysis of three industrial SPI projects. A finding of the study is that an SPI project needs to pay attention to the creation of both tacit and explicit knowledge in order to improve practices. A second finding suggests that implementing and institutionalizing improvements should take its starting point at the group level and involve the development projects. A third finding suggests that sustained SPI processes require ongoing interactions between different learning processes.
Software Process Improvement (SPI) projects are large-scale, complex organization-wide change initiatives. They require considerable investments in personnel, time and money and impact just about every aspect of software firms. The group charged with conducting an SPI project has, however, little formal authority to influence or force software professionals to engage in SPI work or to define and implement changes. The SPI literature suggests that successful SPI initiatives depend on strong commitment from top management. But what should the SPI group do if management support is weak? In this paper, we present an analysis of how an SPI group can use alliances to obtain influence and succeed when management support is weak. Our study is based on a 3-year longitudinal field study of SPI change initiatives at Denmark Electronics. Our findings show that a lack of top management support is not necessarily incompatible with success. This research opens an important new area of research on intra-organizational alliances and information system (IS) implementation. It has the potential to offer new theories and practical advice on how IS implementation projects can be more effectively managed.
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