Performing Projects with Constant Connectivity: Interplay of Consulting Project Work Practices and Smartphone Affordances

Abstract

The broad view of projectification and the broader perspective on constant connectivity have produced insights that question the conventional wisdom. However, how project practices are mediated by constant connectivity is under‐explored and under‐theorized. We conduct a case study of the interplay between consulting project work practices and constant connectivity to address this gap. Our findings point to three potential insights. First, we highlight that consulting projects in the focal context are characterized by clockwork coordination logic. Second, we show there is affinity between front‐stage practices and synchronous smartphone affordances on the one hand as well as between backstage practices and asynchronous smartphone affordances on the other. Third, we describe how clockwork coordination and connectivity affordances give rise to decoupling of legacy timespace from backstage practices while reinforcing the legacy timespace of the front‐stage practices. Our work extends the literature via a highly nuanced and differentiated understanding of the focal phenomena.

Keywords: projects, constant connectivity, practices, affordances, timespace.