Reflections on WISDM:Methods and methodology in IS development

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12.5 Methods and methodology in IS development

The elaborated WISDM framework is shown in figure 12.1. Each of the aspects in the methods matrix has been annotated to highlight the different emphases that IS development projects are subject to as the developers move around the matrix. Organizational analysis is stereotyped asenvisioning and creative thinking, information modeling with rationalizing and a 'rage for order', work design with championing and representing stakeholder interests, technical

design with engineering and problem solving, and HCI with aestheticizing and a notion of design as style. A successful web-based IS project is likely to need a mix of all five aspects, but the mix will vary from project to project, reflecting the contingent nature of the emergent methodology.

Turning to the role of methodology, at the centre of the framework in figure 2 is the generation of a local and contingent methodology (WISDM), generated through the struggle of the change agents with the situation and the methods. The emergent methodology only becomes visible through engagement and practice. Methodology in this sense is an outcome of action rather than pre-existing, being created and recreated through action and the day-to-day practice of system development.

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Table 12.1: Stereotypical differences between traditional IS development and Internet projects (Vidgen, 2002)

Although methodology as contingent and locally situated practice might be described as amethodical (Truex et al., 2000), it is not a series of random actions. There are structures that guide and shape the creation of methodology, such as the IS methods and perceptions of the problem situation in figure 2.

These structures are not objectively given, but must be interpreted – drawn upon and made sense of – in a specific situation by the human actors enacting change. Because there are multiple human actors involved in system development there are multiple meanings created as people interpret the IS methods and the problem situation in different ways. The structures that are drawn upon (perceptions of the methods and the situation) are what enable meaningful action to be taken. However, at the same time, taking action is what produces and reproduces those structures as we learn about and adapt to the local situation. Through this continual flux of negotiation and renegotiation a local IS development methodology emerges – it is contingent in the sense that it is a product of the individuals, the situation and the methods that they draw on.

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Summary

The Multiview framework has been used to explain how a web IS development methodology (WISDM) emerged on an e-commerce development project, the Global Drinks Service (GDS), in a UK-based SME. The methods used in the development project reflected the experiences and skills of the developers, the situation, and the type of project. Three key areas where an e-commerce project differs from traditional IS development were identified: a strong and direct link with business strategy, the need to incorporate sales and marketing skills to address the needs of the user as customer, and a bolstering of traditional IS development skills with a graphic design sensibility. Five stereotypical roles in IS development were identified through the methods matrix: envisioning, rationalizing, championing, engineering, and aestheticizing. The project also gave insights into the structures that developers draw on in the production of a local IS development methodology, suggesting that our attention should move from the idea of methodology as fixed structure to one of methodology as doing and practice.

Further reading

Baskerville, R. and Pries-Heje, J., (2001). Racing the e-bomb: How the Internet is Redefining Information Systems Development. In: Realigning Research and Practice in Information System Development, (Eds, Russo, L., Fitzgerald, B. and DeGross, J.), IFIP TC8/WG8.2 Working Conference, Boise, Idaho, USA, July 27–29.

Connallen, J., (2000). Building Web Applications with UML, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.

Mehrtens, J., Cragg, P. and Mills, A., (2001). A Model of Internet Adoption by SMEs. Information and Management, 39, 165–176.

Truex, D. P., Baskerville, R. and Travis, J., (2000). Amethodical Systems
Development: the deferred meaning of systems development methods. Accounting, Management and Information Technology, 10 (1), 53–79.

Vidgen, R., (2002). WISDM: Constructing a Web Information System Development Methodology.Information Systems Journal, 12, 247–261.

Walsham, G., (1993). Interpreting Information Systems in Organizations, Wiley, Chichester.

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