Issues Impacting on the Project Management of a RAD Development Approach of a Large, Complex Government IT Project

As a systems development approach, RAD has both critics and supporters whose opinions have led to considerable debate about its application for large, complex information systems (IS) development. Literature supports the view that RAD is not suitable for all types of project but that is generally associated with small/medium projects that have low levels of complexity. Contrary to these published beliefs, a RAD-type approach is being adopted for a large complex IS currently being implemented within UK Regional Government that is being used as a longitudinal case study over 3 years. This provides an interesting and atypical opportunity to analyse the use of RAD within such milieux. This paper provides an analytical viewpoint of RAD as a development approach within such a large, complex development environment. It examines the project management issues that impact upon, and influence the success of the RAD approach. It concentrates on key RAD concepts relating to the management of primary knowledge holders and decision makers, the influence of major stakeholders, involvement of end-users and communication issues.