Is it time to rethink project success?

The notion of success and failure in software projects are confusing. Failure is often considered in the context of the iron triangle as the inability to meet time, cost and performance constraints. Yet, while there is a consensus around the prevalence of project failure, new projects seem destined to repeat past mistakes. This paper tries to advance the discussion by offering a new perspective for reasoning about the meaning of success and the different types of software project failures. The paper advocates rising beyond the fixation with internal parameters of efficiency. It begins by discussing the limited insights from existing project failure surveys, before offering a four level model addressing the essence of successful delivery and operation in software projects and considering the different measures required in order to utilise richer measurements of success

Delivering a Brighter Future for IT Projects

This document is the Accepted Manuscript of the following article: Darren Dalcher, 'Delivering a Brighter Future for IT Projects', Cutter Business Technology Journal, Vol. 29 (12), pp. 25-27, January 2017. The version of record is available online at https://www.cutter.com/article/delivering-brighter-future-it-projects-494201.Peer reviewe

Rise of the Robots : Rethinking Ethics, Trust and Responsibility in the Age of Autonomous Machines

This document is the Accepted Manuscript of the following article: Darren Dalcher, 'Rise of the Robots: Rethinking Ethics, Trust, and Responsibility in the Age of Autonomous Machines', Cutter Business Technology Journal, Vol. 29 (2), June 2016. The version of record is available online at: https://www.cutter.com/article/rise-robots-rethinking-ethics-trust-and-responsibility-age-autonomous-machines-491626.This article explores and repositions ethics, trust, and responsibility in the age of autonomous machines. It begins by posing new technology-induced ethical dilemmas and suggesting that there are different moral resolution systems. Frankenstein’s monster and Asimov’s Laws of Robotics represent early attempts to come to terms with the ethics of autonomous robots, yet the role of humans and their ability to intervene invite ­ethical considerations about the impact of autonomous machines. The new uncertainties that come with the use of innovative technologies require paying more attention to the responsibility of designers for their creations. The article concludes by identifying different levels of responsibility and proposing a finer balance between trust, safety, and reliability as well as considering the interaction between users, designers, and their creations.Peer reviewe

Effective Decision Making during Project Implementation

Birinder Sandhawalia and Darren Dalcher, 'Effective Decision Making during Project Implementation' paper presented at Group Decision and Negotiation: GDN 2016. Western Washington University, WA, USA, 20-24 June 2016Project leaders rely on the competence and knowledge of team members to implement successful projects in changing environments. Leaders mobilise knowledge and learning generated during project implementation to support team members’ diverse expertise, integrate different stakeholder expectations, enable collective performance, and ensure project success. The paper presents a theoretical model that supports team knowledge and competencies within the project development effort through the mechanisms of interaction and feedback. It suggests that facilitating the flow of dynamic knowledge during project implementation improves decision making and team performance. Moreover, the proposed model has longer-term implications regarding project leaders’ ability to manage context, provide feedback and support interaction.Non peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Dynamic Knowledge Support Model for Decision-Making and Sustainable Growth : An Empirical Study

Birinder S. Sandhawalia & Darren Dalcher, ‘Dynamic Knowledge Support Model for Decision-Making and Sustainable Growth: An Empirical Study’, Group Decision and Negotiation, Vol. 24 (5): 803-823, first published online 26 August 2014. The final publication is available at Springer via doi: 10.1007/s10726-014-9413-7. © Springer Science + Business Media Dordrecht 2014An effective knowledge-centric approach requires that tacit and explicit knowledge are mobilised, integrated, and made available to support collaboration between team members. Most knowledge management (KM) frameworks lay an emphasis on managing explicit knowledge by focussing on the processes of capture, storage, retrieval, transfer and application. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, needs the key mechanisms of interaction and feedback for effective sharing and use. The paper presents a model validated during a case study conducted at one of the world’s leading software organisations. The model addresses the need to make both tacit and explicit knowledge available and accessible for effective decision-making and sustainable development, and improved environmental impact. It makes use of the mechanisms of interaction and feedback to facilitate the flow and availability of tacit knowledge within organisational practices and routines. The paper establishes that knowledge flows between functional areas and supports tasks and activities of an organisation’s development effort. The findings have longer-term implications regarding organisations’ ability to manage context, provide feedback and facilitate interaction, and therefore build upon their existing knowledge resources to improve decision-making and sustainabilityPeer reviewe

The Adoption of Agile Management Practices in a Traditional Project Environment : An IS/IT Case Study

Hany Wells, Darren Dalcher, Hedley Smyth, ‘The Adoption of Agile Management Practices in a Traditional Project Environment’, paper presented at the 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-48), Kauai, Hawaii, USA, 5-8 January, 2015.Despite the growing interest in the usage and application of Agile Project Management Methodologies (PMMs), there is only scant research examining how and why organisations select agile approaches for managing and delivering Information Technology /Information Systems (IT/IS) projects. This paper reports on the findings of such research conducted within the context of a large technology focused case organisation. The findings identify significant variance between business lines, specifically between product development and software development functions and their ability to follow agile guidelines. Generally across the organisation there was limited evidence of tailoring to context, an important organisational success factor, yet there was a more significant level of tailoring and responsiveness to client needs and wishes. Overall, there was a lack of clarity about the location of the decoupling points following the scoping of the project. Recommendations therefore require further attention and understanding of the implications of new practices employed by organisations, not least by senior management and for additional research underpinning such discovery.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio