Know Thyself: The Importance of Identity in Achieving Software Development Project Temporal Success

This theoretical work draws on group development literature to propose a model for increasing the likelihood of achieving temporal success within a software development (SD) environment. The study addresses a group’s temporal performance through a punctuated equilibrium (PE) lens. As a means of extending the PE model of group development for a SD project context, this research will consider social and temporal aspects of identity within each group in order to address the varying nature of temporal success. First, anthropological research on rituals in society will be applied to present a “project as ritual” perspective, where social and temporal identity are suggested to flow from the rites of passage that exist during the initial meeting and temporal midpoint of a group. Second, social identity theory will be applied to posit that both types of identity are positively associated with a group’s ability to meet temporal deadlines. This theoretical piece is expected to make two primary contributions to literature. First, group development literature is enhanced by providing an extension of the PE model to address environments where social and temporal identities are variable. This contribution is significant since it will allow researchers to apply a PE perspective in real world project team environments. Second, the research contributes to SD literature by offering a clear perspective regarding key factors that can serve to impact a SD project team’s ability to meet temporal deadlines.