Managing the dynamics of mutual adaptation of technology and organisation in information systems development projects

Abstract

AbstractThis article explores a strategy of mutual adaptation between the information system and the business process, facilitated by the iterative and incremental mechanisms of modern SW engineering frameworks. The concept of mutual adaptation implies that the real innovation of an information systems project is not the software, but the working solution after implementation. Too little is known about this phenomenon: What are the dynamics of mutual adaptation? To what extent is it possible to control? Which organisational mechanisms facilitate it? Should planned mutual adaptation be part of an information systems development project, or is it outside the reasonable scope of such projects?The article builds on a longitudinal case study from a large public auditing organisation that developed a new audit process in parallel with the construction of a new information system to support it. The project is described through seven iterations as it experiments with different organisational mechanisms to achieve mutual adaptation. The dynamics of mutual adaptation is described by a window of opportunity, where both the information system and the business process are malleable. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.