The contingent use of systems development methodologies in South Africa

Abstract

There are two main classes of Systems Development Methodologies (SDMs) that are commonly deployed in the systems' development projects. These are the plan-driven SDM class and the agile SDM class. Previous research has focused on proving the superiority of one class over the other, without carefully analysing the rationale behind each SDM’s origins. SDM is a fundamental concept in systems development. The study argues that SDMs can be compared based on the underlying philosophical assumptions. The focus, however, posited by the study on the comparison is different from the perspective of promoting one SDM over the other. The comparison is viewed as an assessment criterion to determine the strength and the limitations of an SDM in a system’s development project-specific contextual stressors and combining them to gain synergies not possible with the deployment of any one SDM. It is demonstrated in the literature that the evolution and transition of SDMs went through four generations: the pre-SDM, the early SDM, SDM and the post-SDM period. Each period had a specific focus on the systems' development contextual stressors. The current period is the post-SDM or the contingent use of SDMs or hybrid SDM era where, SDMs are no longer viewed as complete packages to address the systems' development projects. They are viewed as complementing each other. A conceptual definition of SDM and the role of SDMs in the systems' development field is outlined. The deployment of SDMs is often conceptualized as a once-off event, whereas it is a continuous process. The research uses the contingency theory and the theory of innovation adoption to develop a contingent use of SDMs conceptual model. The conceptual model was tested using survey data collected from the systems' development practitioners. Statistical analysis was performed and this resulted in the development of a refined contingent use of SDMs conceptual model. The study concludes that the two SDM classes are viewed as extreme opposites, but in practice, they complement each other. SDMs are combined to create hybrid SDMs or interleaved on the same systems' development project. Literature and statistical findings have been used to develop guidelines towards the contingent use of SDMs.