Surveying object technology usage and benefits: A test of conventional wisdom

Vendors and developers alike profess a profound shift in the paradigm of systems analysis, design, and programming based on object-oriented techniques. A survey was sent to over 1200 IS professionals with an expressed interest in OO. The results of the questionnaire provided descriptive information on their level of experience with OO in use in the ®eld and also to garnered professional perceptions on the usefulness and bene®ts of various aspects of OO use. We found that many vendor-touted bene®ts are upheld by professionals using these tools, yet not always to the extent predicted. In particular, the techniques were harder to learn than expected and do not give a novice an anticipated edge in acquiring professional expertise. Overall, however, respondents preferred to use OO for application development, as well as to support team-based activities such as client communications, project team communications, and new team member familiarization. Professional users expected that OO could require a greater time investment at the beginning of the system development life cycle, with time savings accruing at the latter stages of a project's implementation and use. Expectations concerning the reusability and shareability of objects also appeared to be met. The most favorable preferences and bene®ts were reported by those respondents who have used OO most. # 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.