Understanding Best Practices for ICTD Projects: towards a Maturity Model

The implementation of Information and Communication Technologies in developmental contexts presents specific social and technical challenges. Understanding the lessons learned and documenting best practices under extreme conditions, such as the ones found on the African continent, can provide valuable insights for ICT deployment in developing countries. At the same time, the experience in use cases and technical know-how of developed countries can help regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa in harnessing the full potential of ICT for social and economic development. This paper describes the preliminary results of an international project based on the exchange between two European institutes and two South African universities, whose goal is to define a set of best practices to improve the success rate of ICT for Development projects. This led to the definition of a Maturity Model to evaluate performing organizations with respect to what characterises a successful ICTD project to guide them in the improvement of their processes towards becoming more effective in addressing the needs of rural communities. The practices and maturity goals included in the maturity model have been collected through an extensive literature review and interviews with project managers.

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1. Understanding Best Practices for ICTD Projects: towards a Maturity Model Aaron Ciaghi, Adolfo Villafiorita, Lorenzo Dalvit November 3, 2014 IDIA2014 Conference - Port Elizabeth, South Africa
2. Outline • Problem: High Failure rate in ICTD • Project Management and ICTD • Research Methodology • An ICTD Maturity Model • Future Work 2
3. The Problem 3
4. The Problem High failure rate of ICTD projects 3
5. The Problem High failure rate of ICTD projects Unsustainable interventions 3
6. The Problem High failure rate of ICTD projects Unsustainable interventions Misaligned Perspectives and Focus 3
7. The Problem High failure rate of ICTD projects Unsustainable interventions Misaligned Perspectives and Focus $4.2bn spent by The World Bank in ICT efforts evaluated as largely unsuccessful* * The World Bank Independent Evaluation Group, 2011 3
8. Why do they fail? • Subjective concept of success and lack of clear metrics • Clashing agendas • Problems in capturing requirements • Risks from inherent challenges not adequately addressed • Sustainability inadequately addressed • Inadequate documentation and evaluation 4
9. Project Management and ICTD • Rarely documented and often appears unstructured • Standards often overlooked (or not known) by NGOs • Techniques and frameworks often imposed by funding agencies for accounting/reporting purposes • Some documented processes and best practices that usually cover single phases/aspects
10. As an organization, I want to know how to carry out a successful ICT for Development project from start to finish 6
11. Standards in Project Management • Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK): project-level standard processes • Capability Maturity Model (CMM): 
 organisation-level improvement, assessment and optimisation • Project Management Maturity Model: organisation-level improvement wrt Project Management
12. Research Methodology Understanding the state of the practice Developing the vision of an ideal process Identification of process improvements • literature review (1999-2013) • semi-structured interviews with PMs • direct involvement and field visits • goal analysis • case studies A revised ICTD Value Chain An ICTD Maturity Model 8 A SCRUM-based process
13. An ICTD Maturity Model 9 • A logical path to improve quality and produce comparable results • 4 areas x 3 levels • 6 Generic Goals • 27 Specific Goals satisfied by
 57 Specific Practices What • Guidance for all the phases of an intervention • Measure the effectiveness at conducting ICTD projects • Reduce failure • Produce comparable results Why
14. Success Success Factor (CSF) Maturity Area Requirement Practice 1..* 1..* 1..* 1 1..* Maturity Model Generic Goal Generic Practice * Specific Goal Specific Practice * 1 1 4 satisfy contributes to contributes to Conceptual Model 10
15. Success Success Factor (CSF) Maturity Area Requirement Practice 1..* 1..* 1..* 1 1..* Maturity Model Generic Goal Generic Practice * Specific Goal Specific Practice * 1 1 4 satisfy contributes to contributes to Conceptual Model Literature + Interviews 10
16. Success Success Factor (CSF) Maturity Area Requirement Practice 1..* 1..* 1..* 1 1..* Maturity Model Generic Goal Generic Practice * Specific Goal Specific Practice * 1 1 4 satisfy contributes to contributes to Conceptual Model Literature + Interviews 10 Value Chain
17. Success Success Factor (CSF) Maturity Area Requirement Practice 1..* 1..* 1..* 1 1..* Maturity Model Generic Goal Generic Practice * Specific Goal Specific Practice * 1 1 4 satisfy contributes to contributes to Conceptual Model Literature + Interviews Goal Analysis 10 Value Chain
18. CMMI Levels • 5 levels • from high risk, low quality • to high quality & productivity • Staged and Continuous representation 11
19. ICTDMM Levels • From ad-hoc and chaotic proceses • To defined organization standards • Based on PMMM levels • Continuous representation 1 Ad-hoc 2 Structured 3 Defined 12 Maturity
20. Process Areas Implementation Sustainability Evaluation and Impact Strategy • Assessed and improved simultaneously • Qualitative Generic Goals that apply to all areas • Specific Goals for each area matched with Specific Practices 13 Time
21. i* Formalisation 14
24. Underlying Principles • Not a substitute for other MMs but a domain-specific addition • Practices and goals stress the importance of • developing a shared vision with the beneficiaries • understanding the “baseline” • flexibility and agility • participatory practices and stakeholders management 15
25. Future Work • Validation with more case studies • Refinement of the ICTDMM specification • Publicly available specification • Standard assessment procedure to certify ICTD organizations (think about this as a service for funding agencies)
26. thank you
28. Essential References • Pade et al. (2007), “An Exploration of the Critical Success Factors for the Sustainability of Rural ICT Projects - The Dwesa Case Study” • Heeks and Molla (2009), “Compendium on Impact Assessment of ICT-for- Development Projects” • Silvius and van den Brink (2010), “A Maturity Model for Integrating Sustainability Projects and Project Management” • Dodson et al. (2012), “Considering Failure: Eight Years of ITID Research” • Dörflinger and Dearden (2013), “Evolving a Software Development Methodology for Commercial ICTD Projects” • Golini and Landoni (2013), “International Development Projects: Peculiarities and Managerial Approaches”