Knowledge Management in Software Development

Karsten JahnPhD Defence

November 29, 2012

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Knowledge Management

Knowledge management enables the knowledge sharing between people, where one person transfers their knowledge to another one.

Support:• Knowledge Management Strategy

(Hansen et al., 1999)• Knowledge Management System

(Davenport & Prusak, 1998)

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The KiWi Project

• Title: Knowledge in a Wiki• Study the possibilities of a semantic wiki in

knowledge management.

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Project Knowledge Management

• Case with business partner: Logica– Providing IT & business solutions– ca. 800 IT & Software specialists in DK

• Issues regarding knowledge management in the case company– Analyze– Address

Research Question:How can IT systems support knowledge management in software development?

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Action Design Research (ADR)

• Outlined by Sein et al. (2011)– Method of 4 stages

• Dual process– Support practitioners in application domain– Forming theory to be added to body of knowledge

• Ensemble view of IT artefacts

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4 Stages of ADR

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Ensemble View of IT Artefacts

• Traditionally: Focus on IT artefact• Ensemble view includes e.g. – interaction with people – embedding in context

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My ADR

Data collection fed from:– Ensemble view– Context– Design process

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Data Collection

• Documents from the case company• Interviews– Project visits– Part of final evaluation phase

• Meetings– Observations– Participants

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Data Analysis

• On-going process• Important aspect of shaping process• Feeding back into design process (stage 3)

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ADR 1: Problem Formulation

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Isolated Islands of Knowledge

• Strong project-orientation isolates projects/project knowledge from one another

• Problems:– Projects internally encapsulate knowledge, which is

created through project work (A1)– Finding experts within company is difficult (A2)– Employees do not share their knowledge with people

from other projects (A3)– Documentation of project work is often inconsistent

or incomplete (A4)

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Inadequate Bridging of Knowledge

• Bridging of the knowledge isolation is not successfully implemented

• Problems:– Process descriptions are too complex and

numerous (B1)– Communication between process designers and

process executors is difficult to establish (B2)– Documentation provided by projects is not

connected (B3)

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ADR 2: BIE Circles

• Through constant iteration of BIE circles– Iterative approach– Consecutive phases– Continuously applied

• Outcome: Design– Based on 4 design ideas

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Knowledge Management Strategy

Codification• People to documents• Similarity-based• Competitive strategy:

Specialization in a certain field

• System support: Heavy– Archive– Search

Personalization• Person to person• Goal-oriented• Competitive strategy:

Customized & unique solutions

• System support: Moderate– Facilitate conversations

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The Strategies

• Focus on one strategy only, reflecting the competitive strategy.

• Utilize the other strategy to support– In a 80-20 share

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Layers in Organization

Problem analysis showed:– Projects are personalized– Management is codified

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Design Idea 1

Supporting the two organizational layers with different knowledge management strategies: The management layer follows a codification strategy and the development layer the personalization.

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Connecting the Layers

Project managers are part of both layers– Reporting project status to management– Applying knowledge from management layer in

development layer

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Design Idea 2

Connecting the two organizational layers in order to establish and support knowledge sharing between them.

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Supporting the Layers

Design Idea 3:Utilizing a wiki in order to support the personalizationstrategy within the development layer.

Design Idea 4:Utilizing a project management system (PMS) in order to support the codification strategy within the management layer.

Wiki

PMS

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KiWi Systems

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Workflow Scenario

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Final Evaluation: Settings

• User test in usability lab– 2 test users– 3 iterations

• Procedure– Follow use cases– Interview

• Focus:– Usefulness– Not usability

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Final Evaluation: Results

• Poor usability• Improved information access• Processes easier to follow than to violate• Systems address issues and provide solution

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ADR 3: Reflecting and Learning

Research Question:How can IT systems support knowledge management in software development?

• KiWi systems support knowledge management for case company.

• Design ideas are contribution to the body of knowledge

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Contribution: Design Idea 1

”Multiple strategies through layers”• Division of problems reflects layers:– Development → Isolated islands of knowledge– Management → Inadequate bridging of knowledge

• Extending theory on strategies:– Acknolowging best fitting strategy in layer– More fine grained choice– 2 strategies in the same organization

• Perspectives of knowledge (Alavi & Leidner, 2001)– Context dependend– Predominant ones differ between layers

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Contribution: Design Idea 2

”Connecting the layers”• Addresses problems with connection:– B2, feedback circle. Focus: People.– B3, connected documentation. Focus: Strategies

• Aspects of knowledge management in software development (Rus & Lindvall, 2002)– Not equally spread in organization, yet supported

• Linking strategies to modes of knowledge creation (Nonaka, 1994)

• Extension to Experience Factory (Basili, 1989)– Enabling personalization

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Contribution: Design Idea 3

”Wiki for personalization”• Addresses different problems, because

– Centralized system with easy access for everyone– Support for collaboration and communication

• Linking personalization to informal knowledge base (Davenport & Prusak, 1998)

• Personalized experience factory (Basili, 1989)– Not: People to system, system to people (indirect)– But: People through system to people (direct)

• IT support in personalization (Hansen et al., 1999)– 20% codification– Wiki is also: IT support to connect people

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Contribution: Design Idea 4

”Project management system for codification”• PMS necessity for case company and many

other organizations• Addresses problem of connecting

documentation (B3)• Linking codification to structured knowledge

base (Davenport & Prusak, 1998)

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Contribution: KiWi Systems

• Design ideas cannot be seen isolated only• All problems are addressed• Layered approach to focus on different strategies

(Hansen et al., 1999)• Implementation to knowledge sharing approach

outlined by (Alavi & Leidner, 2001)• Extension to experience factory (Basili, 1989)

– No separation between project work and knowledge base• Focus on social aspects, not IT (Kautz & Thaysen, 2001)

– IT is part of social aspect

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Thank you for your attention.

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KiWi Platform

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Data Exchange Agent

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Project Management Application

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Bibliography• Maryam Alavi and Dorothy E. Leidner. Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge

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• Victor R. Basili. Software Development: A Paradigm for the Future. In Proceedings of the 13th Annual International Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC'89), 1989.

• Thomas H. Davenport and L. Prusak. Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, 1998.

• Morten T. Hansen, Nitin Nohria, and Thomas Tierney. What's Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge? Harward Business Review, 77(2):106-116, 1999.

• Karlheiz Kautz and Kim Thaysen. Knowledge, learning and IT support in a small software company. Journal of Knowledge Management, 5(4):349-357, 2001.

• Ikujiro Nonaka. A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation. Organization Science, 5:14-37, 1994.

• Ioana Rus and Mikael Lindvall. Knowledge Management in Software Engineering. IEEE Software, 19(3):26-38, June 2002.

• Maung K. Sein, Ola Henfridsson, Sandeep Purao, Matti Rossi, and Rikard Lindgren. Action Design Research. MIS Quarterly, 35(1):37-56, 2011.