Towards an Understanding of ISD

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Towards an Understanding of ISD Reflections
on a 20 Year Long Journey

• Karlheinz Kautz
• Karl.Kautz_at_cbs.dk
• Copenhagen Business School
• Informatics
• Information Systems Development

ISD Conference Paphos, Cyprus, August 2008
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The First ISD Proceedings
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ISD Research Where do we stand?
Out of a Critique of Traditional
Information Systems Development
Agile Development
Evolutionary Prototyping
2008
1988
How did we get there?
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ISD Research What is it about? The Topics of
the ISD Conference

• Concepts and Context
• Philosophical and Theoretical Issues in
  Information Systems Development
• Information Systems Research Methodologies
• Information Systems Development Education
• Methods and Processes
• Information Systems Engineering Management
• Model-driven Engineering in Information Systems
  Development
• Business Systems Analysis Design
• Agile and High Speed Systems Development Methods
• Service-Oriented Analysis and Design of
  Information Systems
• Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in Information
  Systems Development
• Legal and Administrative Aspects of Information
  Systems Development
• Application Areas and Products
• Intelligent Information Systems
• Enterprise Systems Development Adoption

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ISD Research What is it about? The ECIS 07
Track Topic list - Studies of ISD Practice

• Process focus ISD as
• social process
• methodical process
• economical process
• global, distributed process
• outsourced process
• open source process
• amethodical, emergent, improvised process
• design process
• agile process

• Product focus ISD for
• tailor made solutions
• standardised solutions
• web services

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ISD What is it about?A Working Definition

• Sambamurthy Kirsch (2000) define the ISD
  process as follows
• Information systems development processes in
  organizations are the tasks undertaken to
  construct a computer-based information system,
  and the management of this effort, by a group of
  stakeholders with agendas, who engage in
  transactions over time with an institutional
  context by applying structure to their work with
  a set of tools and methodologies, and who judge
  outcomes of their efforts and act accordingly

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ISD What is it about?Another Definition

• Information systems development is the profession
  of constructing computer systems for the use of
  human beings in receiving, processing, storing,
  and communicating information.
• It consists of all those activities, comprising
  managerial ones, that aim at changing an
  organization or individual human behavior through
  the use of computer technology and/or information
  and communication technology and deals to a large
  extent with human, social, organizational,
  economical and technical issues and solutions
  both concerning the development and the
  application of IT.
• It includes development activities such as the
  analysis, design, programming, and maintenance of
  IT as well as supporting activities such as
  project, quality, change and document management
  and the methods, techniques and tools to perform
  these tasks.
• Furthermore it covers those considerations
  concerning the utilization and implementation and
  wider diffusion of information-technological
  innovations.
• (inspired by Andersen et al. 1990, Avison
  Fitzgerald 2006)

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ISD Research Some Background
Process
Scandinavia Bansler 1989
System Theoretical
Socio- Technical
Critical Tradition
USA Orlikowski Baroudi 1991
Critical Epistomolgy
Positivist
Interpretive
Scandinavia Dahlbom Mathiassen 1993
Hard Systems Thinking
Soft Systems Thinking
Dialectical Thinking
Design Science
Participatory Design
Product
Scandinavia/ USA Bjerknes et al 1987 Schuler
Namioka 1993
Scandinavia/ Germany Floyd 1987
USA Walls et al 1992 Hevner et al 2004
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ISD Research Approaches
to Improve

• Collaborative
• Research
• Combining
• Practice Studies
• Experiments
• Action Research
• And
• Design Science

Intervene
Interpret/Analyse
Design
to Understand
to Support
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1988
2008
My Way
Evolutionary Protoyping
Agile Development
Information Systems Development
as an innovative knowledge-intensive quality and
improvement oriented
process
Software Process Improvment Quality Management
Knowledge Management
1993
2003
Adoption Diffusion
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Some Contributions

• Adoption Diffusion

• Software Process Improvement Quality Managment

• Knowledge Management

The themes are interwined!
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The Original Version of the Framework
SPI as ISD Innovation from a KM perspective
Individualist Structuralist Interactive Process
Core Concepts Leader (ship) Champion Entrepreneur Innovator Change Agents Size Resources Centralisation Departmentalisation Differentiation Complexity Specialisation Professionalism Formalisation Centralisation Environment Contents Social Context Innovative Capability Proliferation History Social Relations Social Infrastructure Crisis and Shocks Social Process Political perspective Distribution of power Autonomy vs. control Cultural perspective Stakeholders interaction Subcultures interaction
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Some Digressions

• ISD as an opportunistic process

Der Augenblick of the Improvisation

• ISD as an improvisional process

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The first Version of the Framework

ISD as organisational Innovation Method
Enactment
Individualist Structuralist Interactive Process
Basic Assumption Methodology is enacted by individuals by independent structural characteristics over time through the interaction between the actions of individuals, structural influences and the methodology itself
Conceptualisation of Methodology (Enactment) as an Innovation The contents of methodologies is subjectively perceived and constantly reinvented and reconfigured The contents of methodologies is subjectively perceived and constantly reinvented and reconfigured The contents of methodologies is subjectively perceived and constantly reinvented and reconfigured
Conceptualisation of Methodology Enactment as an Innovation Process Methodology enactment takes place in a complex social process, in which political and cultural aspects play an important role Methodology enactment takes place in a complex social process, in which political and cultural aspects play an important role Methodology enactment takes place in a complex social process, in which political and cultural aspects play an important role
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The second Version of the Framework
ISD as organisational Innovation Method
Emergence, Formalized Method Reflective
Practitioner
Key concepts
Object of study The emergent method the actual unfolding development process and the activities, methods, techniques and software tools that constitute this process
Structuralist (Structural characteristics) Structural context, developers, information system, formalised method - characteristics influence and shape the emergent method
Individualist (Individual action) Repertoire, language, media - influence and shape the individual developers actions - which in turn influence the emergent method
Interactive Process (Structure, action and the issue of time) Social context - social relations, infrastructure and the history of previous procedures, structures and commitments influence and shape the emergent method
Interactive Process (Structure, action and the issue of time) Social process - political and cultural aspects of ISD influence and shape the emerging method
Interactive Process (Structure, action and the issue of time) Content of change - the planned and the actual method and information system emerge in interaction with the social context and social process
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The latest Version of the Framework
Researching Agile Software Development in Practice
Object of study
Layers Research Question Perspectives and Key Concepts
(1) Analysis and Presentation Which work practices are applied? Three Perspectives (Structuralist, Individualist, Interactive process)
(2) Discussion against values Which of the applied practices are agile or traditional in nature? Four Pairs of Agile Values
(3) Generalisation to theory Which of the applied practices fit with a CAS or a more traditional perspective? Six Concepts/Principles of CAS
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The Values of the Agile Manifesto
Edge of Chaos ASD as structured chaos At
the same time stable and unstable Never quite
locks into place, yet never quite dissolves into
turbulence
Provides organizations with both the stimulation
and freedom to experiment and to adapt and with
sufficient structures to avoid disorderly
disintegration Gives competitive advantage
systems that are driven to the edge of chaos
out-compete those which are not It is the place
where the really interesting behavior occurs
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Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) Theory
An insightful grounding for understanding complex
systems
(1) time-pacing (e.g. bi-weekly iterations) vs.
occurrence of events
(2) coevolution vs. evolution
(3) working on the edge of chaos vs. too much or
too little structure
(4/5) autonomous agents working in a self-
organising, emergent, and bottom-up manner vs.
top-down management

(6) working at the edge of time vs. too much
focus on the future (exploration) or on the
past (exploitation).
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A General Outlook

• More research is needed to investigate if and how
  Complex Adaptive Systems Theory

is relevant as a theoretical foundation for
understanding information systems development in
general
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Some Literature

• K. Kautz, H.W. Hansen, K. Thaysen (2001),
  Understanding and Changing Software
  Organisations An Exploration of Four
  Perspectives on Software Process Improvement, in
  Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, Vol.
  13, pp. 7-23
• K. Kautz, K. Thaysen (2001), Knowledge, Learning
  and IT Support in a Small Software Company, in
  Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 5, No. 4,
  pp. 349-357
• K. Kautz, P.A. Nielsen (2004), Understanding the
  Implementation of Software Process Improvement
  Innovations in Software Organisations, in
  Information Systems Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.
  3-22
• K. Kautz, B. Hansen, D. Jacobsen (2004), The
  Utilization of Information Systems Development
  Methodologies in Practice, In Journal of
  Information Technology Cases and Applications,
  Vol. 6, No. 4
• K. Kautz, B. Nielsen (2006), Principals, Agents
  and Prisoners An Economical Perspective on
  Information Systems Development Practice, in The
  Information Universe The Journal of Issues in
  Informing Science and Information Technology,
  Vol. 3, pp. 307-31
• S. Madsen, K. Kautz, R. Vidgen (2006), A
  framework for understanding how a unique and
  local IS development method emerges in practice,
  In European Journal of Information Systems Vol.
  15 (2), 225238
• K. Kautz, A. Kjærgaard (2007), Towards an
  Integrated Model of Knowledge Sharing in Software
  Development Insights from a Case Study, in
  International Journal of Knowledge Management,
  3(2), 91-117, April-June 2007
• K. Kautz, S. Madsen, J. Nørbjerg (2007),
  Persistent Problems and Practices In Information
  Systems Development, in Information Systems
  Journal, Vol. 17 (3), 217-239
• K. Kautz, H.-K. Jørgensen, C. F. Pedersen. M.
  Sinnet, S. M. Rab (2007), The Role of
  Improvisation and Politics in ISD Practice, in
  Proceedings of the 15th International Conference
  on Information Systems Development - Challenges
  in Practice, Theory and Education, Galway,
  Ireland, August 29 - 31,  2007
• K. Kautz, S. Zumpe (2008), Just Enough Structure
  at the Edge of chaos Agile Information Systems
  Development in Practice, in Abrahamsson, P. et
  al. (eds.) Agile Processes in Software
  Engineering and Extreme Programming- Proceedings
  of the International Conference XP 2008,
  Limerick, Ireland, June 2008, pp. 137-146

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Thank you!
Questions?