System Development Methods

Systems developers need appropriate methods and tools at their disposal to develop information systems that are well grounded in the businesses they aim to support. An estimate from the mid 90's showed the existence of over 1,000 named systems development methods. Today, they probably count in even larger numbers. Our research focuses on development, adaptation and evaluation of system development methods and tools, and the results they create. We study the consequences from a multi-actor perspective in order to highlight the advantages/disadvantages from the perspectives of, for example, users, developers, policy makers, and funders. The developed knowledge has helped us to develop methods and conceptual models that can support the software industry with various adaptation tasks concerning systems development methods.