Abstract:

While there has been significant discussion of the techniques of method engineering, the current literature gives little attention to the adoption and diffusion process, firstly, how the organizations get ready for the adoption process then how they shift their behaviours from prior approaches to their new ones. Utilising four Australian Case Studies, we investigate some factors contributing to the success or failure of a method engineering implementation and discuss a transition model (RADaR) that was designed and constructed to assist IT organizations to adopt and diffuse new approaches such as method engineering successfully and effectively. In this paper, we demonstrate and discuss some important aspects of the IT organizational process to adopt and diffuse a method engineering approach such as the organizational readiness and the impact of executive commitment on the outcome of the method engineering exercise. We also draw conclusions for practitioners looking to achieve ‘successes’ from the process.