Coping with 'requirements-uncertainty': The theories-of-action of experienced IS project managers

The notion of ‘requirements-uncertainty’ has received a lot of attention in the Information Systems and Software Engineering literature. As the level of uncertainty of user-requirements increases, the literature advises project managers to move away from the traditional waterfall life-cycle model and towards more ‘experimental’ approaches, such as incremental-delivery and prototyping. But there is evidence from empirical research to show that this advice is not always followed. So, it seems that managing requirements-uncertainty may be a more complicated matter. In this paper, I identify the strategies that experienced IS project managers espouse for coping with requirements-uncertainty. I show that project managers espouse different strategies for coping with different aspects of requirements-uncertainty. I also show that project managers view prototyping and incremental development as ‘broad-spectrum’ strategies that are salient for coping with a wide range of project risk-drivers, including aspects of requirements-uncertainty.