A critical heuristics approach for approximating fairness in method engineering

Information system (IS) development projects often fail because of unclear wishes and needs of concerned parties, or because the developed IS or the used system development method (SDM) is not fully supported by concerned parties. This study investigates how stakeholders that are concerned with the SDM are identified and involved in the engineering of such methods. The critical systems heuristics (CSH) method can be used to identify stakeholders in method engineering, along with their concerns. CSH is meta-modelled and reviewed in 12 interviews with practitioners in software development, system engineering, and consultancy in order to evaluate its applicability in an organizational context. Subsequent modifications made to the contemporary CSH method are validated in an expert validation session. The resulting evolved CSH method enables method engineers to take into account their challenges and contexts, and the method can be instantiated for organizations that engineer methods for internal or external use.