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It Is About Time: Investigating the Temporal Parameters of Decision-Making in Agile Teams

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Building Sustainable Information Systems

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Abstract

The emergence and widespread adoption of agile methodologies is often explained by the need to improve time management in Information Systems Development (ISD). Indeed, a growing body of evidence supports the view that agile methodologies are an effective means of delivering productivity gains through time savings. That is to say, agile methodologies can be used to increase speed and efficiency in ISD projects. In addition, lightweight agile methodologies are designed, by definition, to minimise wastes in the design and delivery of Information Systems and can therefore be used to support sustainability in IS projects (cf. Schmidt et al. Towards a procedural model for sustainable information systems management, IEEE, pp 1–10, 2009). However, the impact of agile methodologies on ISD project outcomes is less clear. In addressing this question, this research-in-progress paper uses a combination of existing literature and empirical data to construct a conceptual framework to explain how three different temporal aspects of agile methodologies (time pressure, polychronicity and periodicity) impact upon decision quality, thereby affecting ISD project outcomes. It is envisaged that this framework will be used to shed light on how agile methodologies impact upon project effectiveness or velocity, which is defined in this context as movement in the “right” direction.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Volberda (cited in [9]) observes that flexibility measurable in terms of absolute speed of change; one must instead take into account both time taken to adapt to change and the variety of that change.

  2. 2.

    Parkinson’s Law states that work will expand to fill the available time. This law has been formalised by a number of authors (e.g. [1]).

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Acknowledgment

This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, administered by the HEA and co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Niamh O. Riordan, Tom Acton, Kieran Conboy & Willie Golden

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  1. Niamh O. Riordan
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  2. Tom Acton
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  3. Kieran Conboy
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  4. Willie Golden
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Correspondence to Niamh O. Riordan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Caaulfield East, Victoria, Australia

    Henry Linger

  2. Monash University, Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia

    Julie Fisher

  3. Box Hill Institute, Box Hill, Victoria, Australia

    Andrew Barnden

  4. National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Chris Barry

  5. National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Michael Lang

  6. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR

    Christoph Schneider

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Riordan, N.O., Acton, T., Conboy, K., Golden, W. (2013). It Is About Time: Investigating the Temporal Parameters of Decision-Making in Agile Teams. In: Linger, H., Fisher, J., Barnden, A., Barry, C., Lang, M., Schneider, C. (eds) Building Sustainable Information Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7540-8_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7540-8_35

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