Improvisation in Information Systems Development

This paper discusses the role of extemporaneous action and bricolage in designing and implementing information systems in organizations. We report on a longitudinal field study of design and implementation of a Web-based groupware application in a multinational corporation. We adopt a sensemaking perspective to analyze the dynamics of this process and show that improvisational action and bricolage (making do with the materials at hand) played a vital role in the development of the application. Finally, we suggest that this case study provides an occasion to reconsider how we conceptualize information systems development (ISD).