Involve users or fail: An IT project case study from east Africa

Repeated surveys, and most notably those by the Standish Group, suggest that a substantial proportion of Information Technology (IT) projects fail. The literature suggests that this is in part due to a lack of user involvement in the project. The authors’ research describes the case study of a major IT system implementation project in East Africa. The paper reports on the results of both an online questionnaire and interviews with key participants. The authors’ findings suggest that the subsequent failure of this project was in large part attributable to a lack of user involvement in the definition of requirements and implementation of the system. There did not appear to be an organisational culture that recognised the significance of such participation in the project. Although there are issues of definition raised, such as the definition of success and failure, this work supports previous findings that user involvement is a key factor in IT project success and failur

Do It Fluid: Innovation in Smart Conversational Services Through the Flow Design Approach

This chapter draws on practical experience in designing, delivering, operating, and innovating conversational services. The article summarises the current context for these distinctively new kinds of services and provides an overview of the relevant technologies and common platforms used in commercial service production. The chapter explores the broader commercial context for smart voice-oriented services and provides an applied framework to aid service innovation. The two concluding parts move into service production, outline a grounded design approach (FLOW) for maximising service flow, and discuss future research directions, specifically how design anthropology can help in radical service innovation