IT DEVELOPMENT - METHODOLOGY OVERLOAD OR CRISIS

The overwhelming evidence of contemporary information technology (IT) design failures, or ''soft-core disasters, '' and the dynamic synergy within the IT industry promote an urgency for the adoption of new meth odologies that will facilitate design-in-action and promote an organiz ational ability for ''learning to learn. '' An examination of the vari ous methodologies and management techniques that underlie the IT indus try reveals a common strategy of dividing organizational functions int o tasks in a ''top-down'' fashion. One engineering analogy, the cybern etic control model, has been a major influence on IT management and de sign, and it underlies much of the management thinking of the engineer the auditor and, as such, design. The research and development approa ch is recommended for design-in-action development and an open-ended I T strategy to facilitate an organizational ability for learning to lea rn.