@article{18218,
  author = {Leif Knutsen and Ingrid Flaaten and Jo Hannay},
  title = {Important, urgent, and unexpected software development during the COVID-19 pandemic},
  abstract = {The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated critical solutions in support of governmental programs urgently needed to mitigate unacceptable economic, social, and health costs. In defiance of conventional wisdom about public sector inertia, government institutions rose to the occasion and delivered digital solutions under inflexible, seemingly unrealistic deadlines. Seeking to build much-needed knowledge on successful important, urgent, and unexpected development efforts (do-or-die projects), we conducted a multiple case study of Norwegian public institutions and found consistent patterns credited for their successes. These relate to 1) antecedent capabilities for collaboration, use of expertise, and interdisciplinary problem-solving; 2) characteristics of the orders for the effort including specificity of goals, importance, deadline, and tie-in with societal mission; 3) emergent development practices that empowered a core team to make decisions, benefit from organizational support, and integrate effectively with diverse stakeholders; and 4) outcomes that reinforced the practices, such as success, pride in work, transparency, and continuous capability development.  Findings support and enrich existing research on do-or-die projects\ as a distinct phenomenon of relevance both for non-urgent and urgent contexts. They also demonstrate organizational resilience and robustness in dealing with crises. Implications are outlined for diverse fields of agile practices and principles, public sector interaction, goal-setting leadership, and project studies},
  year = {2025},
  journal = {Journal of Systems and Software},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
}