The impact of knowledge and technology complexity on decision making software develpment [sic]
Marc H. Meyer, Kathleen Foley Curley · DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) · 2011
This paper reports the findings of a field study on managing the development of software applications used for decision making.The study is based upon a sample of 108 systems that have been operational for at least one year.Collectively, these systems represent a broad spectrum of complexity with respect to decision making and computer technology.At one extreme are stand-alone systems with simple decision making logic.At the other extreme are systems with logic for highly complex decision domains.Some systems are widely distributed throughout firms and linked to suppliers, distributors, or customers.The study gathers data regarding the origins of systems ideas, development costs, project durations, management controls, and the composition of the software development teams.Its develops measures to assess and categorize systems in terms of two dimensions of complexity: that of decision making or the knowledge embodied in a system, and that of the computer technology used to build and deploy a system.Successful approaches to systems development are found to be contingent on these two dimensions of complexity.