Strategies to Deal with Complexity in Information Systems Development

摘要

Information Systems Development (ISD) is an organizational activity that attempts to" improve an organization's information system thrcmgh the adoption of information technology (IT) products. The complexity of organizations, of their information systems, and of the IT products is dealt with by the use of models of any of these entities. These models help to reduce that complexity, to share and validate understandings among the participants in the ISD process, and to guide developers throughout the implementation process. Several mechanisms and strategies to deal with complexity are implicit in the models built during ISD. They include basic intellectual mechanisms such as abstraction but also strategies that enable to reduce the quantity or diversity of elements and their interrelations that bring out complexity. These strategies are used in the two main steps of modeling: conceptualization and representation. The strategies mentioned in this paper include: partitioning and systems thinking for the conceptualization step; levels of detail, projection and partition for the representation step. The paper attempts to illustrate the differences among the strategies and how they are used in ISD. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the modeling process (specially in information systems modeling) that can lead to a better use of these strategies and to avoid confusion and misunderstanding in their application.