People as carriers of experience and sources of commitment: information seeking in a software design project
Morten Hertzum · New Review of Information Behaviour Research · 2000
Engineers in co -operative work settings must engage in a variety of information -seeking activities to accomplish their tasks, and they often turn to other people for information. This study investigates the role of people as information sources during software design, the early stages of software engineering. The purpose is to analyse how information seeking is woven into co-operative work and to inform the design of systems for assisting engineers with finding informed colleagues as well as informing documents. Based on a field stud y of a software design project, it is found that the involved software engineers are often looking for (1) practical experience as opposed to hard facts and (2) commitment as opposed to information. Few organisational mechanisms are in place to manage the flow of experience among projects. This leaves people as the primary carriers of experience, and they are the sole sources of commitment. Further, the engineers need a synthesis of the new system and use situation and are only analysing the present as a way of getting at the future. The ability to transcend current practice and envision the future is specific to people – though they find it difficult.