Knowledge Sharing in Software Development

Knowledge sharing and coordination is a critical part
of knowledge work , the broad class of newly
dominant professions that hinge upon the successful
manipulation and recombination of knowledge and
information, rather than physical objects. Research
to date has looked at knowledge sharing in the
workplace as occurring primarily through intentional
acts something shared through explicit
communication or codified for later use in knowledge
repositories such as databases or wikis. This focus
on the intentional omits consideration of how
knowledge may be shared through acts not explicitly
intended to be communicative. In this book, I
examine how knowledge sharing on small teams occurs
through work practice. Using ethnographic methods, I
document and analyze differences in knowledge sharing
on two software development teams that employ
different software development processes (eXtreme
Programming and the Waterfall method). This research
should be useful to all who seek to promote effective
knowledge sharing in the work place and may be of
particular interest to software development
professionals and managers.

Autorentext
Jan N. Chong, Ph.D.: Studied Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Technical staff member at Rearden Labs, San Francisco.

Klappentext
Knowledge sharing and coordination is a critical part of "knowledge work", the broad class of newly dominant professions that hinge upon the successful manipulation and recombination of knowledge and information, rather than physical objects. Research to date has looked at knowledge sharing in the workplace as occurring primarily through intentional acts - something shared through explicit communication or codified for later use in knowledge repositories such as databases or wikis. This focus on the intentional omits consideration of how knowledge may be shared through acts not explicitly intended to be communicative. In this book, I examine how knowledge sharing on small teams occurs through work practice. Using ethnographic methods, I document and analyze differences in knowledge sharing on two software development teams that employ different software development processes (eXtreme Programming and the Waterfall method). This research should be useful to all who seek to promote effective knowledge sharing in the work place and may be of particular interest to software development professionals and managers.