The Challenges of Creativity in Software Organizations

Part 1: Creating ValueInternational audienceManaging creativity has proven to be one of the most important drivers in software development and use. The continuous changing market environment drives companies like Google, SAS Institute and LEGO to focus on creativity as an increasing necessity when competing through sustained innovations. However, creativity in the information systems (IS) environment is a challenge for most organizations that is primarily caused by not knowing how to strategize creative processes in relation to IS strategies, thus, causing companies to act ad hoc in their creative endeavors. In this paper, we address the organizational challenges of creativity in software organizations. Grounded in a previous literature review and a rigorous selection process, we identify and present a model of seven important factors for creativity in software organizations. From these factors, we identify 21 challenges that software organizations experience when embarking on creative endeavors and transfer them into a comprehensive framework. Using an interpretive research study, we further study the framework by analyzing how the challenges are integrated in 27 software organizations. Practitioners can use this study to gain a deeper understanding of creativity in their own business while researchers can use the framework to gain insight while conducting interpretive field studies of managing creativity

Coexisting Plan-driven and Agile Methods: How Tensions Emerge and Are Resolved

Fast changing products, processes, and services caused by digital technologies require organizations to adopt agile methods after having used plan-driven approaches for decades. Adopting agile methods only to software development, can lead to a challenging coexistence of methods. To date, little empirical understanding exists with regard to the difficulties that emerge when organizations introduce agile teams in plan-driven environments. Consequently, we investigate the coexistence of agile and plan-driven methods and study its impacts. We conducted an exploratory multiple case study of four organizations and draw from adaptive structuration theory to study how agile methods are adopted on team level to an environment of deeply entrenched plan-driven methods. We find that this coexistence causes several tensions between agile and plan-driven teams (i.e., budgeting, knowledge, planning, process, responsibility, and cultural tension). Further, we reveal how organizations and teams overcome these tensions with balanced and blended resolutions

IMPROVING ISD AGILITY IN FAST-MOVING SOFTWARE ORGANIZATIONS

Fast-moving software organizations must respond quickly to changing technological options and mar-ket trends while delivering high-quality services at competitive prices. Improving agility of infor-mation systems development (ISD) may reconcile these inherent tensions, but previous research of agility predominantly focused separately on managing either the individual project or the organiza-tion. Limited research has investigated the management that ties the agility of individual projects with the company agility characterizing fast-moving organizations. This paper reports an action research study on how to improve ISD agility in a fast-moving software organization. The study maps central problems in the ISD management to direct improvements of agility. Our following intervention ad-dressed method improvements in defining types of ISD by customer relations and integrating the method with the task management tool used by the organization. The paper discusses how the action research contributes to our understanding of ISD agility in fast-moving software organizations with a framework for mapping and evaluating improvements of agility. The action research specifically points out that project managers need to attend to the company’s agility in relating to customers, that company agility links to project agility, and that this requires light method and tool support

Utilization of e-Logistics in multinational companies to overcome difficulties of today’s economic environment

As the incredible growth of the Internet is changing the way corporations conduct their business. Logistics service providers must consider changing their traditional logistics system into an e-Logistics system in order to accommodate to the dynamic changes in the commercial world. The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of how organizations utilize e-Logistics within their supply chain and how to create a competitive advantage during the economic crisis so that losses be limited if not eliminated. To reach this purpose, two research questions are stated (two multinational companies), focusing the factors that influence the e-Logistics system. From the in-depth interviews and used to collect data, the findings show that the e-Logistics system can be described as a network creating value process. The findings further indicate that reliability factors, maintainability factors, software factors and facility, transportation and handling factors, all influence the e-Logistics system. On the other hand, availability factors, economic factors, organizational factors and test and support equipment factors are of low-level importance for e-logistics system. The second part of the paper focuses on how e-logistics will change the multinational traditional logistics systems and how we can measure (Key Performance Indicators) these changes.competitively, e-logistics, economic crises, measure (key Performance Indicators).

Informational Support For Information Systems Governance: The Applicative Cartography Repository

Information systems play a critical role in supporting complex processes in modern organizations Nevertheless, organizations are constantly evolving due to external and internal pressures like regulatory developments, business evolution help organizations, and cost containment. It follows that organizational information systems must be agile in order to be aligned with organizations strategies and help organizations manage continuous change and overcoming problems induced by the pressures of their continuously changing environment. Therefore, agile information systems are a critical resource that modern organizations must govern in order to use it effectively. Many authors have noted in recent years that information systems urbanization is one of the most promising approaches to building agile information systems. The governance of urbanized information systems is a complex activity that requires important resources and a deep understanding of the nature of information systems. In particular, to be effective, urbanized information systems governance requires three types of resources: informational resources, software tools managing informational resources, and human resources using these resources to carry out the urbanized information systems governance activities. The applications cartography repository is among the most important informational resources of urbanized information systems governance. In this paper, we propose framework of applications cartography repository which takes into account both the structural and dynamic of information systems urbanization

Open Source ERP In Organization: Research Agenda

Open Source Software (OSS) is a growing phenomenon, changing the way in which Information Systems (IS) are developed, distributed and implemented. The success of OSS in the worldwide market for operating systems, web servers, and other infrastructure software is substantial. However, it is still infrequent in ERP type application domains, which are said to be impossible to design from an OS angle. While a significant number of research investigate aspects of OS, few researches were dedicated to OS ERP. Based on a review of the academic and professional literature, this paper aims to improve our understanding of the current influence of OS ERP in organizations, to provide a new light on a previously developed topic and to challenge the conventional wisdom in our field which stipulates that there are some areas like ERP applications where OS could not be developed

Disaster Response Modeling Through Discrete-Event Simulation

Organizations today are required to plan against a rapidly changing, high-cost environment. This is especially true for first responders to disasters and other incidents, where critical decisions must be made in a timely manner to save lives and resources. Discrete-event simulations enable organizations to make better decisions by visualizing complex processes and the impact of proposed changes before they are implemented. A discrete-event simulation using Simio software has been developed to effectively analyze and quantify the imagery capabilities of domestic aviation resources conducting relief missions. This approach has helped synthesize large amounts of data to better visualize process flows, manage resources, and pinpoint capability gaps and shortfalls in disaster response scenarios. Simulation outputs and results have supported decision makers in the understanding of high risk locations, key resource placement, and the effectiveness of proposed improvements

Beyond the computer: changing medium from digital to physical

How can organizations use digital infrastructure to realise physical outcomes? The design and construction of London Heathrow Terminal 5 is analysed to build new theoretical understanding of visualization and materialization practices in the transition from digital design to physical realisation. In the project studied, an integrated software solution is introduced as an infrastructure for delivery. The analyses articulate the work done to maintain this digital infrastructure and also to move designs beyond the closed world of the computer to a physical reality. In changing medium, engineers use heterogeneous trials to interrogate and address the limitations of an integrated digital model. The paper explains why such trials, which involve the reconciliation of digital and physical data through parallel and iterative forms of work, provide a robust practice for realizing goals that have physical outcomes. It argues that this practice is temporally different from, and at times in conflict with, building a comprehensive dataset within the digital medium. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for organizations that use digital infrastructures in seeking to accomplish goals in digital and physical media