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A socio-technical approach to improving the systems development process

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Abstract

Research on improving the systems development processes has primarily focused on mechanisms such as tools, software development methodologies, knowledge sharing and process capabilities. This research has yielded considerable insights into improving the systems development process, but the large majority of information systems development projects still continue to be over budget, late, and ineffective in meeting user needs. Together with the advent of software development moving offshore, or consisting of offshore team members, a more holistic approach is appropriate. Approached from a socio-technical perspective the software development process is viewed as a process embedded in a social and a technical subsystem. Drawing upon socio-technical work design principles, this paper suggests how capabilities of the development process can be improved. Data collected from a survey of software development practices in organizations indicates that organizations at different levels of process capabilities differ in work system characteristics as well as process performance. For example, the use of multi-skilled teams was found to be significantly related to the systems development process maturity level as well as significantly related to all the performance measures studied. This paper provides empirical support for the socio-technical approach and provides a theoretical foundation for designing software process initiatives in organizations.

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Notes

  1. CMM, or Capability Maturity Model has been replaced by the Software Engineering Institute by Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). However, on their website they state: “Many of the skills used in applying the Software CMM are useful in implementing a CMMI-based process improvement program, since many of the best practices, issues, and improvement approaches are essentially the same.” Since our study primarily uses CMM as an indicator of process capabilities, the results are applicable across both models proposed by SEI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Information Systems, University of Alabama in Huntsville, 301 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL, 35899, USA

    Ravi Patnayakuni

  2. Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Ave., Davie, FL, 33314, USA

    Cynthia P. Ruppel

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  1. Ravi Patnayakuni
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  2. Cynthia P. Ruppel
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Correspondence to Ravi Patnayakuni.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Unless otherwise specified, respondents were required to indicate their agreement or disagreement on a seven-point Likert-type scale (strongly disagree, disagree, slightly disagree, neutral, agree slightly, agree, strongly agree).

Table 6 Analysis of reliability and unidimensionality
Full size table

Appendix 2

Process capability descriptions

Level 1: Ad hoc, without formalized procedures, cost estimates and project plans.

Level 2: Stable and repeatable process based on accumulated experience of individuals, some project controls and metrics, but no process framework used.

Level 3: A defined process that is consistently implemented across projects. Sufficient data is collected to analyze process efficiency

Level 4: A managed process with comprehensive and defined process measurements. Systematic record of process performance measures is maintained.

Level 5: In a continuous improvement mode for optimizing the process.

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Patnayakuni, R., Ruppel, C.P. A socio-technical approach to improving the systems development process. Inf Syst Front 12, 219–234 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-008-9093-4

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