I give up! Five factors that contribute to the abandonment of information management strategies

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we present initial findings from a six‐month study involving qualitative interviews on the topic of project‐related personal information management. Specifically, we report on the emergent theme of information management strategy abandonment ‐ that is, what factors in particular might cause people to give up on their systems for managing documents, calendars, email, and other sorts of project information. In exploring the recurrence of this theme throughout the interview data, five factors emerged as particularly compelling and frequently‐cited reasons for system abandonment: (1) visibility, (2) integration, (3) co‐adoption, (4) scalability, and (5) return on investment. We describe each of these factors in turn, using examples from the interviews for illustration. These findings, though preliminary in nature, provide a starting point for understanding why systems fail and how future systems might be designed to improve their success rate.