Improving Goal Communication with Information Flow Maps and Distances

Goal understanding and communication of requirements are vital for ensuring that large and complex project organizations collaborate efficiently. We have used a design science approach to explore and address the problem of communication for large IT projects. We designed a method for avoiding communication gaps by eliciting information regarding stakeholders and information flows. The MAPS (Mapping to Avoid Project Surprises) method was applied at Scania CV AB and there evaluated through a case study with document studies, ten interviews and a focus group. Our results indicate that MAPS provides good sup-port for stakeholder identification and for creating a common understanding of how information flows between key roles, groups, artefacts and meetings.