Impact of Team Attitude and Behavior on IS Project Success

Although the success rate of information systems (IS) projects has increased over the past two decades, the result is still far from satisfactory. To improve IS project success rate, this study proposes a research model to examine IS project performance from a team attitude and behavior perspective. A total of 91 IS projects were collected by an online survey from CIOs/CTOs/IT professionals. The collected data were analyzed by using AMOS 7.0. We found, via hypotheses testing, that (1) A project team’s goal commitment is positively related to its teamwork quality, (2) A project team’s goal commitment is positively related to IS project success, and (3) A project team’s teamwork quality is positively related to IS project success. Managerial implications to IS project practitioners were discusse

Learning and Forgetting Curves in Software Development: Does Type of Knowledge Matter?

What type of knowledge, among domain, technology, and methodology knowledge, is most influential to the performance of software development? We answer to this question by empirically investigating the learning and forgetting curves in software development using an extensive archival data set of software development projects in an IT service company. We find that prior experiences with the same methodology or technology have a stronger impact on software project performance than those in the same application domain. Furthermore, our results show that methodology knowledge is more easily forgotten than domain or technology knowledge. Our findings provide managerial implications not only to the development of knowledge and skills, but also to other organizational issues in software development such as project team staffing and career development

Factors of Successful Management of Information Systems Development Projects

The tradition on IS research has established the so called iron triangle , the three dimensions that characterize the project management success (PMS) if it is delivered on time, within the budget and according to specifications. However, less attention has been given to the continuum characterized by deviations from the baseline from each of these three dimensions. This paper draws on the definition of the PMS continuum and analyzes four potential factors that may influence PMS: team, project manager, project, and portfolio. We develop hypotheses and test them in a hierarchical linear regression using a sample of 899 IS projects of a leading bank, collected between January, 2014 and December, 2015. Besides proposing and discussing a new continuous PMS indicator, we identify factors that influence IS PMS positively (project size, duration, postponement, and project manager formal power) and negatively (team size and team allocation dispersion). The results suggest guidance of team members’ allocation

IS Learning: The Impact of Gender and Team Emotional Intelligence

In university settings, dysfunction in teamwork often challenges problem-based learning in IS projects. Researchers of IS Education have largely overlooked Team Emotional Intelligence (TEI), which offers a collective cognitive skill that may benefit the student learning experience. Hypothesized are four dimensions of emotional intelligence (EI) that influence perceived effectiveness in IS learning teams. This paper proposes a model that explains how these four dimensions influence perceived team effectiveness and how gender affects this relationship. A survey administered to 384 students resulting in 94 IS learning teams produced regression (and moderated regression) results showing that gender, along with two TEI dimensions (awareness and management of one’s own emotion) predict team effectiveness. Significant results suggest gender differences in the relationship between a team member’s awareness of his or her own emotions, management of others’ emotions, and team effectiveness. These findings suggest IS educators should focus on targeted interventions that may help to foster the development of emotionally intelligent IS learning teams. Most prominently, gender plays an important role for emotional intelligence competencies, where differences exist in awareness of one’s own emotions and management of others’ emotions among student learning teams

Open BOK on Software Engineering Educational Context: A Systematic Literature Review

In this review, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on Open Body of Knowledge (BOK) is presented. Moreover, the theoretical base to build a model for knowledge description was created, and it was found that there is a lack of guidelines to describe knowledge description because of the dramatically increasing number of requirements to produce an Open BOK, the difficulty of comparing related BOK contents, and the fact that reusing knowledge description is a very laborious task. In this sense, this review can be considered as a first step in building a model that can be used for describing knowledge description in Open BOK. Finally, in order to improve the educational context, a comparison among BOK, structure, and evolution is conducted.This work is supported partially by RTI2018-096846-B-C21 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) and ADIAN grant IT980-16 (BasqueGovernment)

Main competencies to manage complex defence projects

This research adds a comprehensive way of assessing competencies, contrasting with the usual reductionist approach that uses off-the-shelf instruments. The study reveals 27 competencies to manage complex projects based upon a comprehensive analysis of 22 interviews with senior practitioners associated with the most strategic projects from the Brazilian Army. These competencies were divided into 10 groups, namely influencing, communication, team working, cognitive, management, contextual skills, professionalism, project management knowledge, and personal skills and attributes. Surprisingly, both emotional skills and social competencies were not prominent. The results contribute to advance our knowledge by revealing that practitioners involved in complex defence projects value more technical and individual competencies. This study analyses competencies across several complex projects in the defence sector, providing insights to practitioners and expanding the academic debate focused on other industries and single cases. Organisations might use the competencies to recruit, select, and develop human resources involved in complex defence initiatives

A Systematic Review of Developing Team Competencies in Information Systems Education

The ability to work effectively in teams has been a key competence for information systems engineers for a long time. Gradually, more attention is being paid to developing this generic competence as part of academic curricula, resulting in two questions: how to best promote team competencies and how to implement team projects successfully. These questions are closely interwoven and need to be looked at together. To address these questions, this paper identifies relevant studies and approaches, best practices, and key findings in the field of information systems education and related fields such as computer science and business, and examines them together to develop a systematic framework. The framework is intended to categorize existing research on teams and team competencies in information systems education and to guide information systems educators in supporting teamwork and promoting team competencies in students at the course and curricular level in the context of teaching in tertiary education

A Systematic Review on Developing Team Competencies in Information Systems Education

The ability to work effectively in teams has been a key competence for information systems engineers for a long time. Gradually, more attention is being paid to developing this generic competence as part of academic curricula, resulting in two questions: how to best promote team competencies and how to implement team projects successfully. These questions are closely interwoven and need to be looked at together. To address these questions, this paper identifies relevant studies and approaches, best practices, and key findings in the field of information systems education and related fields such as computer science and business, and examines them together to develop a systematic framework. The framework is intended to categorize existing research on teams and team competencies in information systems education and to guide information systems educators in supporting teamwork and promoting team competencies in students at the course and curricular level in the context of teaching in tertiary education

Team task skills as a facilitator for application and development skills

Software development requires the application of diverse skills from various sources. Often these are considered to be skills in development methodologies, application domains, and accomplishing general team tasks. Previous research, however, fails to establish a direct link between skills present in the development team and successful performance of the software development project. In an attempt to determine a more accurate representation of the importance of skills in the project, we develop a model that considers team task skills as a moderator to the more specific application domain and development methods skills. A survey of software development professionals validates the model indicating that basic skills in completing team tasks facilitate other skills in achieving improved project performance. In the short term, project teams must be formed to include a higher level of team task skills. An organization should also consider team task skills to be primary in hiring and training policies to improve software project performance