PD method and socio-political context of the development organization

Little research is done on how socio-political factors intertwine with method implementation. This paper is a follow up of a reported PD method implementation failure four years ago. For branch related reasons, the implementation fell short. This article tells the story of what happened then. To our surprise, the original reason for introducing the PD method called Personas had disappeared during our one and a half year attempt at method implementation. Internal socio-political developments had solved the power struggle that the PD method was aimed to mediate. We propose that it is time to expand the method focus with studies revealing more about the socio-political internal climate and contingencies in today’s software development practices that influence method introduction and adaptation.