Understanding Agility in ISD Projects

Since the 2001 publication of the Agile Manifesto, agile information systems development (ISD) methods have enjoyed increasing popularity. Extant research has highlighted critical challenges and key benefits associated with agile methods. Notwithstanding, the contribution of the actions performed by actors involved in an ISD project toward the achievement of agility remains unclear. This issue motivated the present study, which addresses the question of “how do project teams achieve agility in ISD projects? . To answer this question a theoretical lens that accounts for the shared understanding that actors have of the ISD process as well as its actual unfolding is adopted. Building on extant conceptualizations of agility in ISD and its constituting facets, a study of three ISD projects within an organization is conducted. The main expected contribution of the study is to offer insight into the actions that contribute to the achievement of the various facets of agility in ISD

Managing Conflicting Institutional Demands in Outsourced ISD Projects

This study examines the role of differences between parties involved in outsourced information systems (OISD) projects, focusing on 1) the mechanisms vendors use to manage those differences; and 2) the long term impacts of those mechanisms. Using data from a revelatory case study, we anchor our theorizing in institutional theory to develop three main propositions emphasizing 1) the role of instances of conflicting institutional demands in OISD projects; 2) the relevance of the logics driving the enactment of institutionalized practices to explain how vendors respond to those instances; and 3) the ability for those responses to trigger a process of institutional change. Offering a comprehensive explanation of the management of differences in OISD projects, our work has implications for research and practice

A process model of outsourced information systems development projects

In order to cut costs and gain access to specialized technical expertise, organizations often outsource some of their information systems development projects. While the globalization of exchanges has helped facilitate the adoption of this practice, research on this topic has identified a number of potential hinderers that can threaten their success and applied a variety of theoretical lenses to their study. Within this context, we propose a theoretically grounded process model to explain events occurring during the course of outsourced information systems development projects. To do so, we follow an inductive approach that integrates a variety of theoretical lenses and rely on different sources to provide examples of our arguments in the form of illustrative vignettes. We rely on institutional theory to characterize the systems development and project management practices in place at the client and provider and argue that these practices either focus primarily on the control or coordination mechanisms in place for the project, thereby defining different forms of contracts between parties. We then study the conflicts that may occur between these practices before and during the project and posit that there are processes that can be used to try and resolve them. Finally, we identify the impact these processes can have on the project both in terms of process and potential outcome, thereby influencing the contracts in place between parties in the form of a feedback effect that effectively demonstrates the dynamic nature of outsourced information systems development projects

Managing artificial intelligence projects: Key insights from an AI consulting firm

While organisations are increasingly interested in artificial intelligence (AI), many AI projects encounter significant issues or even fail. To gain a deeper understanding of the issues that arise during these projects and the practices that contribute to addressing them, we study the case of Consult, a North American AI consulting firm that helps organisations leverage the power of AI by providing custom solutions. The management of AI projects at Consult is a multi-method approach that draws on elements from traditional project management, agile practices, and AI workflow practices. While the combination of these elements enables Consult to be effective in delivering AI projects to their customers, our analysis reveals that managing AI projects in this way draw upon three core logics, that is, commonly shared norms, values, and prescribed behaviours which influence actors\u27 understanding of how work should be done. We identify that the simultaneous presence of these three logics—a traditional project management logic, an agile logic, and an AI workflow logic—gives rise to conflicts and issues in managing AI projects at Consult, and successfully managing these AI projects involves resolving conflicts that arise between them. From our case findings, we derive four strategies to help organisations better manage their AI projects

Webinar - Conducting Trace Data Research hosted by Dr. Ola Henfridsson

This SIG DITE webinar provides our community with the opportunity to learn from an innovative panel of junior scholars who have embraced digital innovation for creating and implementing novel research designs. This panel will discuss the availability and use of new methods, tools, and techniques for conducting trace data research into digital innovation/transformation/entrepreneurship phenomena. How to translate source code and other new types of data into sources of behavioral insight; What the best methods are for scripting, cleansing, and processing digital trace data; What research questions/topics are emerging from novel trace data methods; and Emerging innovation in research design

Numerical simulations for nodal domains and spectral minimal partitions

International audienceWe recall here some theoretical results of B. Helffer, T. Hoffmann-Ostenhof and S. Terracini about minimal partitions and propose numerical computations to illustrate some of their published or unpublished conjectures

Recommendations for diagnosing effective radiative forcing from climate models for CMIP6

The usefulness of previous Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) exercises has been hampered by a lack of radiative forcing information. This has made it difficult to understand reasons for differences between model responses. Effective radiative forcing (ERF) is easier to diagnose than traditional radiative forcing in global climate models (GCMs) and is more representative of the eventual temperature response. Here we examine the different methods of computing ERF in two GCMs. We find that ERF computed from a fixed sea-surface temperature (SST) method (ERF_fSST) has much more certainty than regression based methods. Thirty-year integrations are sufficient to reduce the 5-95% confidence interval in global ERF_fSST to 0.1 W m-2. For 2xCO2 ERF, 30 year integrations are needed to ensure that the signal is larger than the local confidence interval over more than 90% of the globe. Within the ERF_fSST method there are various options for prescribing SSTs and sea-ice. We explore these and find that ERF is only weakly dependent on the methodological choices. Prescribing the monthly-averaged seasonally varying model’s preindustrial climatology is recommended for its smaller random error and easier implementation. As part of CMIP6, the Radiative Forcing Model Intercomparison Project (RFMIP) asks models to conduct 30-year ERF_fSST experiments using the model’s own preindustrial climatology of SST and sea-ice. The Aerosol and Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP) will also mainly use this approach. We propose this as a standard method for diagnosing ERF and recommend that it be used across the climate modelling community to aid future comparisons

Bim as an enabler for digital transformation

Organisations all over the world are increasingly becoming digitally enabled, including infrastructure providers and are looking to use this new found a digital way of working to transform the organisation into a more lean, efficient and productive organisation. Digital transformation is not exclusively about digital technology but the fact that technology, which is digital, will enable the organisation to create greater informed decisions around there current and future challenges, objectives and strategy. While many organisations are currently going through a digital transformation process, there are challenges in demonstrating the value of such a transformation process to the broader organisation. This is partly due to the fact that for digital transformation to be successful it must encompass all of the organisation, including traditional business processes and functions that are not prone to change. Furthermore, it can be witnessed that digital transformation is not purely a technical solution but is also an organisational cultural change, one that allows for an agile approach to working and one that acknowledges failure in a positive perspective. A framework is proposed in this paper that utilises the BIM information management processes and adopts them into a digital transformation process. The framework aims to not look at BIM within individual lifecycle stages, but the full adoption of BIM between all the lifecycles stages. Furthermore, it will support the full organisational adoption of BIM within all organisational functions such as risk management, customer reengagement, fiscal management, resource management, ETC. finally, the framework will enable the culture to change requirements by providing a collaborative and transparent environment to digital transformation

Incubation Period of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome

The potential incubation period from exposure to onset of symptoms was 7–39 days (median 18 days) in 20 patients with a defined period of exposure to Andes virus in a high-risk area. This period was 14–32 days (median 18 days) in 11 patients with exposure for <48 hours