Situational Method Engineering

Abstract

Abstract. Based on the experience that there cannot be a "one-size-fits-all" method, different situational method engineering approaches are examined in this paper. The result of the analysis shows that "situations" are conceptualized very imprecisely. Therefore, we propose to differentiate between "context" and "project type" in situational method engineering. Especially context is neglected in existing method engineering approaches. To close this gap, we enhance existing method engineering processes by adding three steps to facilitate the identification of context factors and project type factors, enabling the engineering of both contextual and project type-specific methods. Furthermore, we propose a set of extensions to the method engineering meta model that allow the method engineer to differentiate between "context" and "project type" in describing situational methods.

Engineering situational methods for professional service organizations : an action design research approach

“…The composition process is subdivided into three phases (Bucher et al, 2007): (1) identifying the situational characteristics: the characteristics that can be used to characterizing specific development project types; (2) decomposing generic artifacts into artifact fragments: the artifact fragments, which are generic artifacts specified according to the situational characteristics from step 1, are used to fill the method base; and (3) composition of the artifact fragments into a situational method: the situational method is composed by application of a well-defined process that follows construction and composition principles to fit the situational characteristics of the development project.…”

“…However, literature indicates that this stage is not well-researched. The problem is that in literature the concepts context and project type are not clearly defined, and therefore often used interchangeable (Bucher et al, 2007). One approach taken in literature is based on a list of seventeen contingency factors whose values influence the project approach (van Slooten and Hodes, 1996).…”

“…This implies that the contingency factors describe the environment to which the method is adapted and in which it is deployed. Bucher proposes to include both project type and context as factors that describe the organizational characteristics in which the methodology under-development will be applied (Bucher et al, 2007). In the meta-model for SME that is described in section 3.7.2 both elements are included.…”

“…Bucher adds the concepts adaptation mechanism, context, and project type (Bucher et al, 2007). The latter concepts regard situation as a combination of context and project type.…”

“…As will be discussed in section 3.7.3, a combination of the concepts design activity and technique is denoted as a method fragment. Design activities describe the task that have to be executed (the what), and techniques provide options to achieve the results (the how) (Bucher et al, 2007). Since this research follows up on SME to design a methodology dedicated for professional service organizations, the meta-model for SME is the foundation for the IT artifact.…”