Systems Development Process Improvement Using Principles from Organization Development

Abstract

A large part of the time used on information systems is used on application maintenance. Whereas parts of this work are non-productive, other activities are small value-creating projects, and it is important to use the time for application maintenance on such activities. This chapter presents the introduction of an application management methodology using techniques from organization development. Often process improvement is run in a top-down manner. A case study has been performed to assess the effectiveness of a bottom-up organization development technique for an application management unit. The different parts of the organization have been successful in reaching the first “mature” process maturity level (level 2). More importantly, other goals on decreased time used on addressing critical errors and more time used for value-added projects have been reached. Although good results have been achieved, further process improvement is believed to need to take a more top-down approach.