The MUST Research Program
The MUST-method
A state-of-the-art method for introducing new information technology systems into an organization, illustrated by case studies drawn from a ten year research project involving IT-professionals, managers, and users.
The goal of Participatory IT design is to set sensible, general, and workable guidelines for the introduction of new information technology systems into an organization. Reflecting the latest systems-development research, this book encourages a business-oriented and socially sensitive approach that takes into consideration the specific organizational context as well as firsthand knowledge of users' work practices and allows all stakeholders--users, management, and staff--to participate in the process. Participatory IT Design is a guide to the theory and practice of this process that can be used as a reference work by IT professionals and as a textbook for classes in information technology at introductory through advanced levels. Drawing on the work of a ten-year research program in which the authors worked with Danish and American companies, the book offers a framework for carrying out IT design projects as well as case studies that stand as examples of the process.
The method presented in Participatory IT Design--known as the MUST method, after a Danish acronym for theories and methods of initial analysis and design activities--was developed and tested in thirteen industrial design projects for companies and organizations that included an American airline, a multinational pharmaceutical company, a national broadcasting corporation, a multinational software house, and American and Danish universities.
The MUST method is described in a book organized in three parts. Part I introduces the concepts and guidelines on which the method is based. Part II describes the four phases of a design project--initiation, in-line analysis, in-depth analysis, and innovation. Part III explains the method's sixteen techniques and related representation tools, offering first an overview and then specific descriptions of each in separate sections. The second and third parts are designed as a practical toolbox for utilizing the MUST method.
Here is what experienced IT designers have said about the method:
- It covers all relevant aspects of a design project.
- It offers specific directions for engaging staff in a design project.
- It promotes management involvement, not merely in passive "approvals," but as active participants in the process.
- It ensures better anchoring of the visions.
- It serves as a means to present and explain the process to a company's customers.
- It helps a project manager plan and manage a design project in a structured manner.
- It helps new employees get into IT design.
- It breaks with the major dependency of past projects on too-detailed specifications as the basis of a competitive bid.
- It provides simple, yet highly effective techniques.
- It introduces representation tools with no formalisms that are effective for involving professionals who do not have much experience with IT development.
- It can be used at all levels of education: in introductory level tool-based courses; as a methodological primer on project based work and in advanced courses in IT strategy.
The book is written for courses at universities and business colleges as well as for courses, or independent studies, for IT-practitioners. The book is relevant for courses in university programs like computer science, information systems, information science, and business & IT management which deal with relations between IT and business needs. Our experience shows that the book is suitable for courses at undergraduate as well as postgraduate levels.