Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
largest and most well-resourced corporations. To achieve a return on such
major investments needed large-scale implementations aimed at achieving
significant cost savings and efficiencies. Computer system design of this
nature was complex, hugely demanding of time and resources and embry-
onic expertise in IT development.
Consequently during the 1970s and 1980s, a number of methodologies
evolved to support the development of large-scale, bespoke computer sys-
tems. Many of these were developed by systems analysts, such as DeMarco
(1978), Gane and Sarson (1979), and Jackson (1983). Systems analysts
tended to be drawn from the ranks of the computing profession, starting off
as programmers, with formal training in mathematics, and then moving
into analysis work. Such approaches to design tend to reflect this. They
embody a technocentric focus, in which design is seen as the specification
of a technical system, and where human activities are largely either auto-
mated or ignored. The focus of analysis is on the flows of information
through a given environment and the different entities that make up that
environment.
But although relatively influential, methods like these unfortunately did
not solve all the problems associated with designing effective computer
systems. Examples of truly successful computerization projects were few
and far between and there were many examples of partial successes and
even catastrophic failures (e.g. Mowshowitz 1986). The scene was set for
what became an all-too-familiar pattern in large-scale IT systems devel-
opments. Typically the sequence begins with the statement of ambitious
objectives, projections of significant improvements in productivity, fore-
casts of significant cost savings, and expectations of increased competitive
advantage and improvements in service to customers. In reality the out-
comes were (and, unfortunately, still are) often late delivery, escalating
costs, a shortfall in performance and productivity, and user disillusion.
Contemporaneous studies of the reasons for the lack of success of many
high profile IT projects conducted in the 1980s (e.g. Kearney 1984) consis-
tently highlighted the key areas of weakness as poor project management,
inadequate definition of user requirements, and a failure to involve users
adequately.
The realization that many design problems can be attributed to other
than purely technical issues led to the development of new specification
techniques and methodologies to assist in the design activity. Several were
influenced by the concepts of systems thinking (e.g. Checkland's Soft Sys-
tems Methodology 1981) and sociotechnical systems theory (see Chapter 7
for more details). While these developed from a diverse philosophical and
experiential base, they shared the recognition that the specification of re-
quirements for information technology systems was the most difficult part
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