The Role of Leadership Cognitive Complexity in Software Development Projects: An Empirical Assessment for Simple Thinking

Abstract

Simple thinking (or simplicity) is a way of coping with complexity. It is especially important in the software development process (SDP), which is an error-prone, time-consuming, and complex activity. This article investigates the role of the thinking style-namely, simple thinking-which has been found effective in solving complicated problems during software development. For this purpose, it reviews and discusses simplicity issues from a general perspective and, then, reports the findings of a survey concerning the assessment of simplicity in SDP. The survey was conducted among information and communication technologies senior professionals and managers from government and private-sector organizations. Relevant hypotheses have been developed under different empirical categories for analysis. Statistical analysis techniques were then used to draw inferences based on these hypotheses. The results have proved simplicity to have a significant role in the SDP to a certain extent. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.