IT Project Prioritization Process: The Interplay Of Evidence And Judgment Devices

In most of the large companies IT project prioritization process is designed based on principles of evidencebased management. We investigate a case of IT project prioritization in a financial institution, and in particular, how managers practice evidence-based management during this process. We use a rich dataset built from a longitudinal study of the prioritization process for the IT projects. Our findings indicate that managers reach a decision not only by using evidence but from the interplay between the evidence and the judgment devices that managers employ. The interplay between evidence and judgment devices is manifested in three ways: supplementing, substituting, and interpreting evidence. We show that while evidence does not fully determine the decision, it plays a central role in discussions, reflections, and negotiations during the IT prioritization process.