Learning failure in information systems development

Information systems development is a high-risk undertaking, and failures remain common despite advances in development tools and technologies. In this paper, we argue that one reason for this is the collapse of organizational intelligence required to deal with the complexities of systems development. Organizations fail to learn from their experience in systems development because of limits of organizational intelligence, disincentives for learning, organizational designs and educational barriers. Not only have many organizations failed to learn, but they have also learned to fail. Over time they accept and expect poor performance while creating organizational myths that perpetuate short-term optimization. This paper illustrates learning failure in systems development and recommends tactics for overcoming it.