Towards the Development of a Complex Adaptive Project Environment Assessment Tool

Abstract

Managing complex software and information systems (IS) development projects in a continuously changing business environment is an arduous task. We argue that the success of a complex project depends on the underlying capability of the specific project environment to be adaptive to changes. Organizations have therefore a need to assess the capability of the underlying project environment to identify how well it supports the management of a complex project. In this paper we present the design of an initial “complex adaptive project environment assessment” (CAPEA) tool, which has been developed based on the eight key characteristics of the complex adaptive systems (CAS): Autonomy, Interdependence, EcoSystem Structure, Context Awareness, Non-Linearity, Emergence, Self-Organization, and Adaptation. The evaluation of the CAPEA tool is conducted by assessing two project methods in order to provide an initial indicative proof of concept. The evaluation of the CAPEA tool indicates that it can assist organizations to assess and improve the management of complex software or IS project methods, and reduce costly consequences associated with failed projects.