Information systems development (ISD) is essentially a search process by which the ISD team seeks to find an optimal system configuration among numerous feasible configurations that produces the greatest business value. As information systems are embodiments of application domain knowledge and technical knowledge, ISD requires both in order to be effective. The business unit is ultimately responsible for making business design choices whereas the IS unit is largely responsible for making technical design choices. Complexity in ISD arises when these design choices are interdependent so that the contribution of one design choice to business value may depend on other design choices. We argue that knowledge overlaps between business and IS play an important role in the ISD process. However, little research has examined the complex and nuanced effects of knowledge overlaps on ISD performance under different conditions of design choice interdependencies. Using an NK fitness landscapes model of ISD, this research investigates how knowledge overlaps influence ISD performance (1) when the level of interdependencies among design choices varies, (2) for different distributions of within-unit and between unit interdependencies, and (3) when between-unit interdependencies are balanced or skewed. We report the results of a simulation study and discuss their implications and insights. We present propositions drawn from the simulation results.

Keywords: information systems development (ISD), knowledge overlap, knowledge interdependence, complexity, complex adaptive systems, NK fitness landscape model, simulation