What Methodology Attributes Are Critical for Potential Users? Understanding the Effect of Human Needs

Despite the overwhelming advantages of using IS development and management (ISDM) methodologies, organisations are rarely able to motivate their staff to use them. The resulting lack of methodology usage by individuals fails to deliver the expected advantages of better quality, control, less time, and less effort in IS development projects. We analyse the technical as well as non-technical aspects of an individual’s use of ISDM methodologies, in order to enable organisations to engineer those that meet the needs of actual users and are actually used by them in a productive manner. We construct a conceptual model, based upon which, we posit that: technical methodology attributes such as relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, demonstrability, visibility, triability, and reinventability influence an individual’s methodology usage behaviour. We also propose that the strengths of these relationships depend on non-technical, deeply rooted psychological needs of the people.