The Entwinement of Project and Information Technology Research Editorial

Abstract

I find it difficult to imagine any two management disciplines that are more interwoven than project management and information technology (IT) management. Were it not for project management, fewer technology implementations would have been completed with any degree of success. IT provides project managers with tools and principles to assist in attaining their success, has fundamentally altered practice, and should continue to do so (Steen et al., 2022; Whyte, 2019). Fundamental practices of each hold recognizable similarities, such as the early practices in information system development of structured programming with hierarchy charts and modularization paralleling the use of work packages in work breakdown structures to break larger concepts into manageable units. The waterfall approach to systems development followed from the concepts of planned projects, while agile development crossed from the IT world to be a major force in the management of projects. That’s not to say that the cross-fertilization was always recognized or capitalized upon. Revisiting my days as a consultant and director of a data processing shop (yes, it WAS called that) in the 1970s, I recall the frustrations associated with managing the design, development, and deployment of productive software. At that time, the most common advice was to estimate the time and cost of new software based on expectations of lines of code, then doubling or even quadrupling that estimate to have any realistic chance of meeting expectations. I think it was that frustration, as much as anything else, that led me back to earn my doctorate. Since those early days, I have dedicated most of my instruction and study to the improvement of the IT deployment process by considering and applying principles, practices, and theories of project management. My interest in projects as a critical body of knowledge to improve the process of digitizing organizations has opened many doors of opportunity, including faculty positions, conference organizing, and editorial roles. More importantly, it introduced me to scholars around the world who became coauthors, colleagues, and friends. Many of these individuals are represented in the pages of this special issue through their contributions to the advancement of IT management, project management, or both. In particular, I am grateful to Ralf Müller, friend and co-editor-in-chief of Project Management Journal, who suggested this special issue, and to my good friend and frequent coauthor James Jiang (JJ), who composed this issue. Just as JJ opened this issue with an excellent look forward into the world of digital strategies, I’m going to close with a reflection on our past work in the field of IT project management. A good deal of my colleagues’ and my work has roamed across many topics, theories, levels, and practices but I’ll focus on those related to major project research themes. One of the articles in this issue provides an excellent overview of the topics covered by influential researchers (Wu et al., 2023), but I’ll take a deeper dive.