Abstract
Development methodology is a key issue for research in information system development. It is often assumed that methodologies and practice are closely related, but there are few attempts to justify this assumption. Much of the literature on development methodologies is normative and conceptual; empirical work into the efficacy of these methods is lacking. In fact, empirical evidence indicates that we should instead try to understand the system development process as being emergent, so even if methodologies appear to the observer as structure, they are only transient regularities in work practices that are constantly shifting form. Even if it is claimed that a project employs a certain methodology, it is usually not used as prescribed.
In order to realign research and practice, we must improve our understanding of and means to support, the ways in which development is conducted in practice. This paper presents a framework for understanding how work practices are accommodated to the work setting. The framework defines work practice and method fragment, and it describes a sociological process for accommodation: selecting method fragments in emergent work practices.
The original version of this chapter was revised: The copyright line was incorrect. This has been corrected. The Erratum to this chapter is available at DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-35489-7_33
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Baskerville, R., Stage, J. (2001). Accommodating Emergent Work Practices: Ethnographic Choice of Method Fragments. In: Russo, N.L., Fitzgerald, B., DeGross, J.I. (eds) Realigning Research and Practice in Information Systems Development. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing, vol 66. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35489-7_2
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