Information Systems Development: A Conceptual Model and a Comparison of Methods Used in Singapore, USA and Europe

Organizations, big or small, are still plagued with ageold problems of software development: too much backlog, projects being late and costing more than the budget, implemented systems not meeting user needs, and IS maintenance costs continuing to be very high. A conceptual model presented in this article, argues that, within the context of an organization and specific systems development project, optimal deployment of “people†and “methods†has the potential of alleviating these problems. Several researchable issues emerge out of this conceptual model. This paper then focuses on a comparison of IS development methods used in Singapore, USA, and Europe. For Singapore, a survey instrument was developed, pre-tested, validated and administered to 250 member organizations of DPMA in Singapore. For USA and Europe, existing data from previous studies were utilized. Important findings include: (1) large organizations adopt state-of-the-art methods significantly earlier than small organizations; (2) when comparing use of methods across different countries, organizational profile in terms of size, revenue level, and number of employees is an important intervening variable; (3) proactive planning and strategizing by the governments of developing countries can significantly increase the rate of transfer of state-of-the-art IS development methods from the advanced countries; (4) some differences in use of methods can be attributed to cultural and political differences