Activity Analysis as a Method for Information Systems Development: General Introduction and Experiments from Nigeria and Finland

AbstractThis paper investigates if the Activity-Theoretical methods of work development used by Engestrom and others can be transformed into a day-to-day methodology for information systems practition-ers.We first present and justify our theoretical framework of Activity Analysis and Development fairly extensively. In the second part we compare work development with information systems develop-ment and argue that in its less technological areas, the latter can potentially use the same meth-odologies as the former. In the third part, small experiments on using Activity Analysis during the earliest phases of information systems development in Nigeria and Finland are reported.In conclusion, we argue that the experiments were encouraging, but the methodology needs to be supported by further illustrative examples and training material. We argue that compared to currently used methods in the earliest and latest “phases” of systems development, Activity Analysis and Development is comprehensive, theoretically well founded, detailed and practicable.