Introduction
Even though technology can induce growth, it is also a disruptive force; this duality can be effectively shown in the acceptance and adoption of information systems in businesses and organizations. While the effectiveness of the technology is determined by how well it achieves a certain goal, system analysts should have an understanding of the organizational stakeholders and how the adoption of the system will affect them. Kim (2017) posits that information systems fail because of limited attention to stakeholders through socio-organizational issues on the system analysts’ part while placing a lot of credence to the techno-economic aspect of information systems.
Thesis statement: inherently, system analysts’ frame of reference and representation forms will be skewed towards techno-economic issues which hampers problem identification and problems search and by extension, this reduces utility of the information system to an organization.
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Participatory design of information systems
Participatory design refers to where users are actively involved in the design process. This approach is grounded on two key tenets, that is, active participation and collaboration by the user in the design process (Wells, 1999). Participatory design aids in conveying information from the users to the system analysts in the form of storyboarding, pencil and paper exercises or workshops. Storyboarding involves outlining the routine activities of the users and the probable designs while getting to understand how the system will impact users. On the other hand, pencil and paper exercises involve the use of mock designs to have the users walk through the system. Finally, workshops involve getting both the users and designers to get a centered view on the design by either filling missing knowledge or inviting ideas from the users and designers.
Having outlined the different approaches on how business stakeholders can be incorporated in the design process through participatory design, this paper will further describe how business users can be involved in core activities of information system design. First, this involvement should be on-site where participation can be direct or indirect (Kautz, 2011) . Business users in the design process should play a participative, consultative and informative role. Therefore, business users should be involved in planning, the creation of user stories, story cards, incremental releases, functional testing and acceptance testing (Kautz, 2011; Wells, 1999) . By having the business users participate in every level of system design, the result will be a system that is fitting from both the perspective of the business user and that of the system designers.
Software development methodologies and project management
A project is defined as a one-time activity with a specific outcome or output. Under this definition, an information system fits the description of a project in that, designers and users come together to develop a system that can manage information to support control, coordination, analysis, visualization and decision making in an organization (Authenticity Consulting, n.d.). Here, it is worth noting that from the technical aspect, system design is conducted through what is referred to as a system development lifecycle whereas, from an organizational perspective, projects are run through project management. Depending on the area of specificity, each will have different but related stages. It is worth noting that, project management is defined as the process of planning, organizing and managing the running of an effective project. On the other hand, system development lifecycle is characterized as the process of planning, developing, testing and deploying an information system.
From the definition, it is evident that there is some degree of overlap not in the deliverables but the sequence followed to the outcome. Therefore, it is plausible to hypothesize that software development technologies can be imbued with aspects of project management to benefit information systems development projects and the organization. Hence, this section will highlight how agile development can be used in tandem with project management.
Agile development is in itself an alternative project management and software development approach that is grounded in delivering value faster to customers or clients. As opposed to waiting for the launch of an information system after the definition of requirements, this approach embraces continuous evaluation of requirements, plans and results to empower the team to have a mechanism to respond to change in a timely fashion as iterative development is central to this development approach (The Agile Coach, n.d.). Therefore, through regular meetings, iterations, the team is able to assess the software development process. Here, users can provide quick feedback and designers are able to respond to these responses as they continue with the development process.
As outlined, feedback is a hallmark under agile development and it is at this point that project management can be inculcated in the design process. As outlined by Gillard (2017), communication is a key skill and factor of success in project management especially where cross-functional teams are involved. In this instance, it is the business users and information system designers. In relation to communication, it is important to note that words can be barriers, for instance, professional jargon and euphemisms (Gillard, 2017). In line with this, agile development and project management can come together whereby, a project manager who often serves as the liaison between the involved stakeholders gets an opportunity to achieve clearer communication by conveying information to the receiver using concrete familiar words with a specific meaning. This way, it is possible to do away with miscommunication.
Therefore, the interplay between project management and agile development is mainly in optimizing human interaction by building trust and confidence and communicating effectively to ensure effective and efficient project development (Gillard, 2017). By combining both, it is possible for a project manager to successfully engage the business users and system designers by effectively communicating the business processes and the environment in an effective manner based on the knowledge levels of the receivers, either the business users or the designers.
Role of project managers and IT managers
As earlier outlined, communication is central to project management and system development. Both project managers and IT managers have a role of streamlining communication to make sure messages are conveyed effectively and efficiently in a way that they can be easily understood by the receiver. In this regard, the project manager ought to translate business objectives and processes to the IT manager who in turn communicates this information to his or her team in technical terms. As a result, the project manager serves as the avenue to bring about socio-organizational competence to the IT department by acting as the liaison between the business users and the system designers. In addition, the designer is able to interact continually with the business users and from the provided feedback, be able to understand the technical and economic requirements.
Since the project manager and the IT manager serve the role of helping with the flow of information the designers’ frame of reference and representation of forms widens. By understanding the perspective of the business users, they are able to understand what it is that the users are looking for, the organizational power relations, the projected impact of the information system to their daily activities (Gillard, 2017). From this understanding, the designers can represent this information effectively by directing it towards problem identification. Additionally, through continuous interaction supported by agile development and the project manager, the designers are able to seek additional information through continued feedback. Finally, by responding to the provided feedback in a timely fashion, the end result is not just the delivery a technically sound information system but also one that meets the social and organizational requirements.
Conclusion
Communication is a key aspect for both project management and system development. That is, it is the avenue through which designers can collect the requirements of the users and also that which the users are able to offer feedback. However, because of the orientation of the users and the designers, business users will be inclined to the business processes and the environment whereas the designers will be inclined to the technical aspect of information system development. This results in discord between socio-organizational and technical-economic issues because of inadvertent miscommunication. Therefore, in line with the focus of the paper, involving business users in the development process enhances system development as it enhances problem identification and problems search for the system analysts since there is an understanding of the business processes and the environment.
References
Authenticity Consulting. (n.d.). All About Project Management . Retrieved from Free Management Library: https://managementhelp.org/projectmanagement/index.htm
Gillard, S. (2017). The Human Element Of Project Management. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 10 (3), 185-188.
Kautz, K. (2011). Investigating the design process: participatory design in agile software development. Information Technology & People, 24 (3), 217-235. doi:10.1108/095938411111
Kim, J. U. (2017). An Investigation of the Effects of the Analyst’s Frame of Reference and Representation Forms on the Identification of Information Systems Development Problems . Multidisciplinary Academic Conference , 323-330.
The Agile Coach. (n.d.). What is Agile? Retrieved from Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/agile
Wells, D. (1999). The Customer is Always Available . Retrieved from Extreme Programming: http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/customer.html
