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 

Outline • Problem: High Failure rate in ICTD • Project Management and ICTD • Research Methodology • An ICTD Maturity Model • Future Work 2 

The Problem 3 

The Problem High failure rate of ICTD projects 3 

The Problem High failure rate of ICTD projects Unsustainable interventions 3 

The Problem High failure rate of ICTD projects Unsustainable interventions Misaligned Perspectives and Focus 3 

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 

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 

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 

As an organization, I want to know how to carry out a successful ICT for Development project from start to finish 6 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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 

CMMI Levels • 5 levels • from high risk, low quality • to high quality & productivity • Staged and Continuous representation 11 

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 

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 

i* Formalisation 14 

14 

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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 

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) 

thank you 

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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”