Talk Before It's Too Late: Reconsidering the Role of Conversation in Information Systems Project Management

Author List: Mastrogiacomo, Stefano; Missonier, Stephanie; Bonazzi, Riccardo;
Journal of Management Information Systems, 2014, Volume 31, Issue 1, Page 47-78.
Effective team coordination is essential for the information systems (IS) projects' success. We present a four-year study, based on design science research, to develop and instantiate a conceptual model-called Coopilot-to improve real-time coordination in IS projects. Coopilot is a simple conversational guide to help IS project managers minimize the number of coordination surprises that arise for teams during their project meetings. Drawing on coordination literature outside the IS research field, we have adapted and instantiated the theory of joint activity developed by psycholinguist Herbert Clark. The results illustrate the value Clark's theory can add to the IS field and both the importance of conversation intended as a new theoretical construct in IS team project coordination as well as the importance of reaching a sufficient level of understanding. Project managers involved in this study who used Coopilot reported both higher levels of confidence that their projects were on a successful path and overall higher levels of team motivation.
Keywords: conversation for coordination;IS project management;IS teams;project management;team coordination
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#135 0.253 project projects development management isd results process team developed managers teams software stakeholders successful complex develop contingencies problems greater planning
#87 0.110 team teams virtual members communication distributed performance global role task cognition develop technology involved time individual's affects project geographically individuals
#254 0.109 level levels higher patterns activity results structures lower evolution significant analysis degree data discussed implications stable cluster exist relationships identify
#256 0.095 coordination mechanisms work contingencies boundaries temporal coordinating vertical associated activities different coordinate suggests dispersed coordinated horizontal relative demand spatial hours
#21 0.068 research information systems science field discipline researchers principles practice core methods area reference relevance conclude set focus propose perspective inquiry
#276 0.064 satisfaction information systems study characteristics data results using user related field survey empirical quality hypotheses important success various indicate tested