The information systems literature generally conceptualises information system (IS) workarounds as negative disturbances that need to be avoided. IS design literature has emphasised the need to incorporate user behaviour in emergent IS design. Surprisingly, information systems research has kept the literatures on workarounds and IS design separate and remains silent on how workaround behaviour can inform information system design. In this research, we explore six workarounds in two case organisations and analyse the connections between them. We develop the concept of digital desire paths to describe the process how information system designers improve the system design by observing how users use and work around the system. Digital desire paths offer a novel interpretation of workarounds as input for information systems design and thereby serve as instance of the principle of guided emergence in action design research.

Innovation platforms enable companies to create broad and dynamic portfolios of applications, which can be developed internally and externally. An increasing number of established companies from traditional industries have begun to explore the potential of innovation platforms. These companies are often organised as multi-business organisations (MBOs). When introducing innovation platforms, they face tensions between the corporate centre that runs such platforms and business units that develop applications on the platform. Established approaches to information technology (IT) governance in MBOs are ineffective in addressing these tensions because they focus on cross-business-unit synergies, rather than on innovation from business units. To explore this issue further, we conducted a longitudinal case study of an automotive manufacturer that introduced an innovation platform in its infotainment system. The company faced four tensions: rigidity, alteration, mistrust, and competition. To address these tensions, the company evolved its IT governance, allowing for more flexibility for business units, supporting their development efforts, and prioritising them over external complementors. The role of the corporate centre evolved from a gatekeeper to an enabler of innovation. Our findings link the literature on IT governance in MBOs with that of platform governance, providing insights into how MBOs benefit from innovation platforms.

Global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, change the context for research and bring with them many professional challenges for IS researchers – not the least of which is disrupting carefully thought-out data collection efforts. In this confessional tale, we describe how moving from an “open research ecosystem” to a “socially distanced research ecosystem” has affected a long-planned data collection effort. While government orders to socially distance and physically isolate may have made the world “stand still” for some, we found that these orders had dynamic and consequential effects for our in-process research. Against the backdrop of significant threats posed by the contextual change to our data collection, we explain how the crisis also opened up opportunities to invigorate our understanding of how the environment affects how we conduct research. We conclude our tale with guidelines for how to successfully respond when your research is interrupted by a change of context.

A top priority of organisations around the globe is to achieve IT-business alignment at all levels of the organisation. This paper addresses operational alignment within IT functions. Traditionally, IT functions are divided into highly independent subunits. In the face of pressure to adapt to rapidly changing customer demands and to manage increasingly complex IT architectures, many organisations have begun implementing joint, cross-functional DevOps teams, which integrate tasks, knowledge and skills pertaining to planning, building, and running software product activities. In this study, we examine eight cases of DevOps implementation. We apply grounded theory to identify three mechanisms comprising a tripartite model of intra-IT alignment: individual componentization, integrated responsibility, and multidisciplinary knowledge. Our model provides insights into how alignment between development and operations can be achieved in DevOps teams within the IT function.