Improving Information Systems Design
My research agenda focuses on the co-design of business processes and information systems. Choices in the design of technology and the effects of alternative forms of technology on work are formed by definitions of organizational problems and, in turn, affect how organizational problems are defined. So design choices are emergent. Technology and process design, organizational innovation, problem-solving, and management decision-making are inextricably intertwined. An additional complication is introduced when you involve stakeholders from multiple knowledge domains - as is the case with potentially high value-contributing, or "strategic" information systems. We are faced with a wicked problem: one that can only be resolved through stakeholder argumentation, rather than analysis.
When collaborative design groups span organizational boundaries, we have the additional complexity of managing distributed sensemaking. My long-term research goal is to replace the waterfall model of the SDLC in practitioners’ hearts and minds. Emergence means that goals for change evolve, as stakeholders learn more about the context and the problems facing the organization by engaging in incremental change. Most spiral models do not challenge the traditional view that design processes are decompositional and so embody the goal-driven assumptions that plagued earlier waterfall approaches. This lack of understanding is counter-productive at a time when much organizational IS design effort is moving "upstream" in the waterfall model. Companies are now focusing on "what can we do with IT?", rather than "how do we get IT to work?" I am studying collaborative, boundary-spanning groups involved in the co-design of business and IT systems, to understand how design actually works. The three threads of my research are discussed further in the links to the right 
Because of the need to generate new theories of practice in this area, I emphasize the use of qualitative, exploratory research methods. I conduct organizational and educational field studies with the aim of generating a grounded theory of the design process in boundary-spanning groups. I incorporate systemic modeling and analysis methods (based on Peter Checkland's SSM approach) to surface tacit knoweldge from design stakeholders, as well as traditional (thematic, discourse-based) qualitative analysis. I also conduct action research studies and small-group field experiments, to understand the use of techniques to facilitate boundary-spanning knowledge sharing. My book chapter on rigor in grounded theory is considered an important reference for many doctoral students (Gasson, 2003).
