Impact That Elements of Agile Methodologies Have on IT Project Success

Agile methodologies that have proven themselves are actively developing. Choosing a methodology is complicated as each of them has its own pros and cons. Project outcome depends not only on methodology, but also on the definition of success. There is lack of research on how agile practices independently impact project success. The aim of this work is to measure the impact agile practices have on IT-project success. The object of the study is agile practices used in IT-projects; the subject of the study are features of agile methodology usage in IT-project. The paper shows two practices — Stand-up and Kanban-board — are guaranteed to contribute to IT-project success if used correctly. At the same time, another significant characteristic of IT-project success is leadership openness to agile methodologies.

Theorizing IT Project Success

This study theorizes IT project success by integrating the project level drivers to the IT, business, and environment level enablers. An attempt is made to delve into underlying structures below the project level in order to understand the systemic reasons behind a particular success or failure. In this journey we rely on the general systems theory and the key concepts like elements, state, properties, process, hierarchy, and environment. It is shown that IT projects can be straightly abstracted by the general system principles. Within the systemic framework, potential factors behind the success of the IT projects are identified, the relationships between the factors are hypothesized and then the hypotheses are integrated into a hierarchical research model. Finally, the hypotheses and the research model are empirically evaluated. According to the results it was confirmed that all levels considered in the research model have significant impacts on the success of an IT project. Similarly, a significant improvement in IT project management in terms of project success can be obtained by improving the quality of involved factors. A favorable financial situation, highly-perceived importance of IT, sound business – IT alignment, and good IT and IT project competencies have remarkably significant positive impacts on the success of IT projects.

The social representation of success in IT projects

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to unveil the perception of information technology (IT) professionals in Brazil regarding the success of IT projects. Design/methodology/approach By using the social representation theory and the words evocation technique, data were collected from IT professionals in Brazil, being subsequently processed so as to identify the central nucleus of the social representation of the success of IT projects for IT professionals in Brazil. Findings IT professionals in Brazil perceive the central core of the social representation of the success of IT projects as formed by “satisfaction” and “scope.” Furthermore, while a considerable amount of IT professionals in Brazil still consider cost, quality and time as relevant factors for the success of IT projects, they do not consider them the most important factors. Moreover, these professionals overlook the financial dimension of the success of IT projects. Research limitations/implications Errors of inference may have been made during the categorization of the words evoked. Furthermore, the sample adopted refers exclusively to IT professionals in Brazil, which limits the universality of the work. Practical implications Organizations and project management associations must take into account the utmost importance of customer satisfaction for the success of IT projects. Besides, these associations must develop IT project success criteria that account for the financial, business and strategic impact of the success of IT projects in organizations. Originality/value IT project success is perceived by IT professionals in Brazil merely from the adherence to scope and customer satisfaction dimensions, leaving aside the importance of project profitability and the strategic impacts of same in the performance of organizations, as well as their future.

Measuring Information System Project Success through a Software-Assisted Qualitative Content Analysis

Information System (IS)/IT project success is a growing interest in management due to its high impact on organizational change and effectiveness. Libraries have been adopting integrated library systems (ILS) to manage services and resources for years. It is essential for librarians to understand the mechanism of IS project management in order to successfully bring technology innovation to the organization. This study develops a theoretical model of measuring IS project success and tests it in an ILS merger project through a software-assisted qualitative content analysis. The model addresses project success through three constructs: (1) project management process, (2) project outcomes, and (3) contextual factors. The results indicate project management success alone cannot guarantee project success; project outputs and contextual factors also influence success through the leadership of the project manager throughout the lifecycle. The study not only confirms the proposed model in a post-project evaluation, but also signifies that project assessment can reinforce organizational learning, increase the chance of achieving success, and maximize overall returns for an organization. The qualitative content analysis with NVivo 11 has provided a new research method for project managers to self-assess an IS/IT project success systematically and learn from their experiences throughout the project lifecycle.