Richard T. Vidgen

Coevolving Systems and the Organization of Agile Software Development

Despite the popularity of agile methods in software development and increasing adoption by organizations there is debate about what agility is and how it is achieved. The debate suffers from a lack of understanding of agile concepts and how agile software development is practiced. This paper develops a framework for the organization of agile software development that identifies enablers and inhibitors of agility and the emergent capabilities of agile teams. The work is grounded in complex adaptive systems (CAS) and draws on three principles of coevolving systems: match coevolutionary change rate, maximize self-organizing, and synchronize exploitation and exploration. These principles are used to study the processes of two software development teams, one a team using eXtreme Programming (XP) and the other a team using a more traditional, waterfall-based development cycle. From the cases a framework for the organization of agile software development is developed. Time pacing, self-management with discipline and routinization of exploration are among the agile enablers found in the cases studies while event pacing, centralized management, and lack of resources allocated to exploration are found to be inhibitors to agility. Emergent capabilities of agile teams that are identified from the research include coevolution of business value, sustainable working with rhythm, sharing and team learning, and collective mindfulness.

Measuring Web site quality improvements: a case study of the forum on strategic management knowledge exchange

As organizations have begun increasingly to communicate and interact with consumers via the Web, so the appropriate design of offerings has become a central issue. Attracting and retaining consumers requires acute understanding of the requirements of users and appropriate tailoring of solutions. Recently, the development of Web offerings has moved beyond the commercial domain to government, both national and international. This paper examines the results of a quality survey of a Web site provided by the OECD. The site is examined before and after a major redesign process. The instrument, WebQual, draws on previous work in Web site usability, information quality, and service interaction quality to provide a rounded framework for assessing e‐commerce and e‐government offerings. The metrics and findings demonstrate not only the strengths and weaknesses of the sites, but also the different impressions of users in member countries. These findings have implications for e‐government Web site offerings.

Data triangulation and web quality metrics: a case study in e-government

The work discussed here focused on the evaluation of quality perceptions of users of an electronic government website. As government organizations have begun to enhance transparency, communicate, and interact with citizens via the web, the development of appropriate online services has demanded better understanding of user requirements and thus for tailoring of solutions. The site we examined enabled the online submission of self-assessed tax returns in the UK. Survey data were used to model the perceptions of site users. In addition to the quantitative data, we also collected comments from respondents. These, using data triangulation, provided additional insight into the perceptions of site quality. The results of the comment analysis both supported the instrument and pointed to additional factors determining the perceptions of quality of e-government services needing attention in instrument development.

A further exploration into information systems development: the evolution of Multiview2

Multiview was defined in 1985 and has been since refined to become an influential approach to information systems development. It has soft and hard aspects and, as a contingency approach, is not prescriptive but adapted to the particular situation in the organization and the application. Observations and reflections on Multiview in action over the last ten years together with more recent literature based on, for example, holism, emergence, multi‐causality, ethical analysis and technology foresight, form the basis for a new definition of Multiview. Changes in the domain of information systems are also taken into account. Away from centralized technology, long lead times and hierarchical organizations, towards networks, new organizational forms, business processes, informational products and services, and the removal of time and space constraints on human activity. This paper underlines the need for IS researchers to learn about methodologies as they are used in practice (rather than as described in text books) and for methodologies to evolve in response to changes in the domain in which they are applied.

An exploration of technical debt

Context: Whilst technical debt is considered to be detrimental to the long term success of software development, it appears to be poorly understood in academic literature. The absence of a clear definition and model for technical debt exacerbates the challenge of its identification and adequate management, thus preventing the realisation of technical debts utility as a conceptual and technical communication device. Objective: To make a critical examination of technical debt and consolidate understanding of the nature of technical debt and its implications for software development. Method: An exploratory case study technique that involves multivocal literature review, supplemented by interviews with software practitioners and academics to establish the boundaries of the technical debt phenomenon. Result: A key outcome of this research is the creation of a theoretical framework that provides a holistic view of technical debt comprising a set of technical debts dimensions, attributes, precedents and outcomes, as well as the phenomenon itself and a taxonomy that describes and encompasses different forms of the technical debt phenomenon. Conclusion: The proposed framework provides a useful approach to understanding the overall phenomenon of technical debt for practical purposes. Future research should incorporate empirical studies to validate heuristics and techniques that will assist practitioners in their management of technical debt.

The sociomateriality of information systems: current status, future directions

Our motivation for putting together this special issue on “Sociomateriality of Information Systems and Organizing” was the mounting interest in the relationship between the social and the material, in the context of our increasingly digital society. The attention to this relationship is manifested in the emergence of studies of technology intended to augment and complement, but also and importantly, to question the received views on technology in social life (see Carlile et al. 2013a; Leonardi et al. 2012; Suchman, 2007).

Managerial complexity in project‐based operations: A grounded model and its implications for practice

This article reports an investigation into project managers’ perceptions of managerial complexity. Based on a multistage empirical study, elements of “what makes a project complex to manage” were identified and classified under the dimensions of mission, organization, delivery, stakeholder, or team—the MODeST model. Further, the data showed that these elements had both structural and dynamic qualities and that the elements are interdependent. Project managers are shown to be embedded in this complexity. The practical implications of the research include the ability to describe managerial complexity in a manner consistent with the actuality of the lived project environment. This provides a framework for the description of the level of managerial challenge or difficulty, which will allow the assessment of individual and organizational responses to it in the future. Further, the opportunity exists for active management of complexity.

Assessing the quality of auction Web sites

WebQual is an instrument for assessing the quality of Internet sites from the perspective of the customer. Earlier versions of WebQual focused on information and interaction quality. This paper reports on a new version of WebQual that incorporates three quality dimensions: information quality, interaction quality and Web site design quality. WebQual is applied in the domain of Internet auctions and the results are used to assess the reliability of the instrument for assessing the quality of Web sites. Three auction sites (Amazon, eBay and QXL) are evaluated through an intervention that involves buying and selling at auction. The results of the intervention are analyzed quantitatively to assess the validity of the WebQual instrument and supplemented by qualitative data that is used to consider the relative merits of the three sites evaluated.

Constructing a web information system development methodology

This paper reports on the extension of the Multiview framework to web- based information systems. The aims are firstly to investigate the appropriateness of Multiview - a pre-Internet analysis and design methodology - to web-based information systems and, secondly, to reflect on the nature and role of method- ology, as distinct from method, in the information systems (IS) development process. A 2-year e-commerce development project in a small to medium enter- prise is the setting for learning through action research. To distinguish the project from consultancy, a framework of ideas - Multiview - is declared and tested in the research process. The differences and similarities of pre-Internet and Internet-based projects are analysed and reported on. At a higher order of learn- ing the project provided an opportunity to reflect on how methodologies are con- structed in practice.

Automotive e-hubs: Exploring Motivations and Barriers to Collaboration and Interaction

Business-to-business electronic marketplaces or ‘e-hubs’ ‘are increasingly being adopted by organizations seeking to achieve dramatic reductions in cost. While initially heralded in such industries as the automotive sector as the key to restructuring old economy firms, the claims for e-hubs appear optimistic. This paper explores collaboration and interaction by examining four cases of e-hub adoption by vehicle manufacturers and suppliers. A conceptual framework emerges from this examination that helps to assess the real benefits of electronic applications—not the hyperbole—by revealing firm and industry level motivations and barriers. The framework explains the dissonance between expected and realised benefits, and extends the literature on IS barriers. The investigation concludes with recommendations for how best to adopt e-hubs in terms of supply topology, buyer–supplier relationships, leadership, and the threat of disbenefit from e-hubs. q 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.