Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Evaluating current practice and proposing a system to enhance knowledge assets within a small software development unitKnowledge management and knowledge transfer within organisations challenge continuity and resilience in the face of changing environments. While issues are principally addressed within large organisations, there is scope to evaluate how knowledge assets are managed within small and medium enterprises and to consider how the process might be enhanced. The research reported here aimed to evaluate practice within an evolving software development unit to understand how knowledge has been acquired and utilised to further organisational development. In-depth interviews were carried out with members of the unit to elicit an understanding of individual and collective learning. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed key changes in thinking and practice as well as insight into the development of individuals' contextual knowledge and tacit understanding. This analysis led to the proposal of a bespoke, lightweight web-based system to support knowledge capture and organisational learning. This work is still in progress but it is anticipated that the results will provide a potentially novel and beneficial method for enhancing knowledge assets in small enterprises and consolidating valuable, and potentially scarce, expertise.
-
Towards Organisational Learning Enhancement: Assessing Software Engineering Practice• Purpose – Issues surrounding knowledge management, knowledge transfer and learning within organisations challenge continuity and resilience in the face of changing environments. While initiatives are principally applied within large organisations, there is scope to assess how the processes are handled within small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and to consider how they might be enhanced. This paper presents an evaluation of practice within an evolving software development unit to determine what has been learned and how the knowledge acquired has been utilised to further organisational development. These results provide the basis for the design and implementation of a proposed support tool to enhance professional practice. • Design/methodology/approach – A small software development unit, which has successfully delivered bespoke systems since its establishment a number of years ago, was selected for analysis. The unit operates as a team whose actions and behaviours were identified and validated by the following means: in-depth interviews were carried out with each member of the team to elicit an understanding of individual and collective development. Interview data were recorded and transcribed and subjected to qualitative analysis to identify key themes underpinning knowledge acquisition and utilisation. Samples of project documentation were scrutinised to corroborate interview data. After analysing the data, a focus-group meeting was held to validate the results and to generate further insights into learning within the team. • Findings - Qualitative analysis of the data revealed key changes in thinking and practice within the team as well as insight into the development of individual and collective contextual knowledge, tacit understanding and learning. This analysis informed the proposal of a bespoke, lightweight, web-based system to support knowledge capture and organisational learning (OL). This approach has the potential to promote resilience and to enhance practice in similar small or start-up enterprises. • Research limitations/implications – Purposeful sampling was used in selecting a small software development team. This enabled in-depth interviewing of all members of the team. This offered a rich environment from which to derive awareness and understanding of individual and collective knowledge acquisition and learning. Focusing on a single small enterprise limits the extent to which the findings can be generalised. However, the research provides evidence of effective practice and learning and has identified themes for the development of a support tool. This approach can be extended to similar domains to advance research into learning and development. • Practical implications – Results of the work undertaken so far have generated promising foundations for the proposed support tool. This offers software developers a system within which they can reflect upon, and record, key learning events affecting technical, managerial and professional practice. • Originality/value – Small enterprises have limited resources to support OL. The qualitative research undertaken so far has yielded valuable insight into the successful development of a single software development team. The construction of a support tool to enhance knowledge acquisition and learning has the capacity to consolidate valuable, and potentially scarce, expertise. It also has the potential to facilitate further research to determine how the prototype might be extended or revised to improve its contribution to the team’s development.
