IS Design, Development and Project Management

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Paper Number

1294

Paper Type

short

Description

Information Systems Development (ISD) depends on the availability of help among team members to create value for customers. Without helping, team members are blocked and wait time occurs leading to delays in the ISD deliveries. However, helping is costly because it disrupts already busy team members and takes their time and focus away from the current task. Consequently, a paradoxical tension emerges between ‘must help’ and ‘cannot help’ that when unresolved impairs the delivery of the software. The short paper draws on the theoretical framework of ‘help-seeking and help-giving’ to gain a deeper and more detailed understanding of the how and why ISD teams balance the helping paradox. Building on an exploratory, qualitative case study of ISD teams, we identify four helping balancing strategies that in concert ensure help is available to create software of customer value.

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Dec 12th, 12:00 AM

Help-Seeking and Help-Giving in ISD Teams: A Paradox of Collaboration

Information Systems Development (ISD) depends on the availability of help among team members to create value for customers. Without helping, team members are blocked and wait time occurs leading to delays in the ISD deliveries. However, helping is costly because it disrupts already busy team members and takes their time and focus away from the current task. Consequently, a paradoxical tension emerges between ‘must help’ and ‘cannot help’ that when unresolved impairs the delivery of the software. The short paper draws on the theoretical framework of ‘help-seeking and help-giving’ to gain a deeper and more detailed understanding of the how and why ISD teams balance the helping paradox. Building on an exploratory, qualitative case study of ISD teams, we identify four helping balancing strategies that in concert ensure help is available to create software of customer value.

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