System development methodology and project success: An assessment of situational approaches

Many situational approaches, often called as contingency models, have been developed to assist in the choice of appropriate information system development methods and tools. In this article, the recommendations of the models and actual use of methods and tools are compared in 43 development projects. The analyses show that the recommendations have not been fully adopted in practice. Furthermore, the success of the projects was not affected by the adherence of any of the recommendations. When combined, however, the recommendations discriminated between projects in different success groups. The present findings imply that methods and tools have to be adequate in all phases of the development life-cycle to guarantee success and that situational approaches could contribute to the proper choice of system development methods and tools. However, a combination of the recommendations should be used to ensure inclusion of all relevant factors in decisions on the development methodology.