Robert T. Hughes

Expert judgement as an estimating method

Abstract This paper reviews some past research that may be relevant to the way that ‘expert judgement’ is used to produce estimates of software size and implementation effort. It then describes a survey of software estimators in one organization conducted via written questionnaires and some follow-up interviews. The survey paid particular attention to the information requirements of the estimators. A large proportion of the system development was found to involve the modification of existing systems and as a consequence a large part of the estimating process comprised the assessment of the impact of changes on existing code. The paper concludes by suggesting that some work could profitably be applied to attempting to support expert judgement rather than displacing it.

Facilitating organisational learning through causal mapping techniques in IS/IT project risk management

Information System and Information Technology (IS/IT) development and implementation have become more difficult with the rapid introduction of new technology and the increasing complexity of the marketplace. IS/IT projects often encounter a range of problems that can be described as failure. Thus, learning from an analysis of past projects and from the issues contributing to failure is becoming a major stage in the risk management process. In IS/IT projects, it is common for groups of stakeholders to participate in planning and management. One important element in these activities is risk assessment, that is, the identification of potential risks and their interrelationships throughout the project lifecycle. The ability to visualise cause and effect risk networks and the capability for interactive network building and modification have the potential for individual and group risk identification, justification and prediction. In this paper we introduce Causal Mapping as a method of accomplishing this, and describe two experiments: one carried out with a group of masters-level students and a second with practitioners from a government organization who had experienced an IS/IT project failure. These two exploratory experiments have demonstrated the potential (and also some of the problems) of the approach in identifying problem areas in past projects, through the collaborative construction of cause and effect maps that allow project participants to visualise their perceptions.

Information model to support sustainable procurement

Sustainable practices which increase awareness of people in industries which deal with environmental issues need to be implemented. However, information that needs to be considered to make informed decision on sustainable procurement is located in different places and comes in different form, either internal or external of the organizations. Thus, there is a strong need to consider this information to be interrelated and put in one place for easy access. The aim of this paper is to consider all of these concerns and develop information model to support sustainable procurement. It is hope that this information model is able to guide buyers in making the most informed decisions.

The Affordances of Mixed Method in Software Project Management Research

Abstract Delivering software projects on schedule is crucial to commercial software producers, as a producer is vulnerable to the loss of future business if perceived to be unreliable. This study investigates the dynamics at play during software project execution and the practical problems that emerge and cause schedule delays. This paper discusses the methodological choices made during the research. The research adopted the mixed method approach to enquiry, employing an explanatory sequential design to analyse data from past project documents. We conducted a quantitative data collection and analysis first, followed up with qualitative data collection and analysis to explain the quantitative results. We used: (i) non-experimental, retrospective, and longitudinal/trend designs in the quantitative strand; (ii) case study research of multiple-case design with single-unit of analysis to connect the quantitative with the qualitative strand; (iii) grounded theory techniques to code textual data in the qualitative strand; and (iv) actor-network theory (ANT) to analyse the results. The findings demonstrate that considerable benefit can be gained from: using a mixed method approach to understand the management dynamics during project execution; and deploying ANT to make sense of the influence of project dynamics on project delay.