Team delivery capability and agility: complementary effects on information systems development project outcomes

Abstract

Contemporary Information systems development (ISD) involves not only implementing a predefined set of requirements but also managing changes that emerge during the development process due to unanticipated business and technical needs. ISD project requirements increasingly become both planned and emergent. ISD teams need delivery capabilities to routinely execute what has been planned, and agile capabilities to sense and respond to changes that emerge during the development project. In other words, ISD teams must effectively manage their abilities to not only routinely deliver software applications that meet defined requirements but also sense and respond to changes emerging during the project. The extant literature has not studied the distinction and relationship between ISD team delivery capability and agility. This study empirically examines the differential effects of ISD team delivery capability and agility on ISD project outcomes. Survey data collected from professionals working on 160 software development projects were used to test the research model and hypotheses. The results suggest that ISD delivery capability positively affects agility, agility positively impacts change-response outcome, and agility mediates the relationship between delivery capability and change-response outcome.