Knowledge transfer within a software development team
Geraldine Conway · Arrow - TU Dublin (Technological University Dublin) · 2009
Knowledge in a software company is the blood of the company, not surviving without the valuable knowledge running through its veins. Knowledge is no longer seen as an object of competitive advantage but is the core of how an organisation operates. The transfer of tacit knowledge into a format that is usable and can be transmitted to other individuals is a challenge in any organisation due to the nature of this knowledge. Tacit knowledge is a challenge to convert into an explicit form as it is hard to contextualise this knowledge in order for it to be reusable for others. Investigation is carried out into whether explicit and tacit knowledge that has been documented throughout a software project can be recorded and easily transferred to someone outside of the original project team. The research demonstrated how a Wiki, if used in the correct way, is a sufficient and effective tool for managing important tacit and explicit knowledge within a software team. 1 Knowledge exists in a spiral and grows and matures as it moves though this circle of communication. The people and the technology using it need to be able to deal with its ever-changing nature. The first issue highlighted as the main barrier to knowledge transfer was ensuring that knowledge is in a context that is going to be understood by users who had no previous experience with it. The second issue is regarding the addressing of factors that might result in the contributor of tacit knowledge not participating in the knowledge transfer process. The transfer of project knowledge is possible to users outside of a project team, but only if the issue of user contribution and the contextual knowledge issue are addressed.