PRACTICE AND PROCESS: THE SOCIALIZATION OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT.
Paul S. Adler · Academy of Management Proceedings · 2003
This article discusses research on the socialization of software development. The research was conducted in a large, U.S.-based professional service firm--the GCC. With the support of senior management, interviews were conducted with staff in four of its programs in the Government Systems group. The choice of these programs were guided by a research strategy that sought to identify the effects of Capability Maturity Model (CMM) process maturity and to compare the nature of work under these conditions with work performed under somewhat less-disciplined processes. Overall, the interviews suggest that the standardization and formalization represented by CMM-style process maturity had broadly positive effects, both technical and attitudinal. Technically, the more routine tasks in software development were rendered more efficient by standardization and formalization, leaving the non-routine tasks relatively unstructured to allow more creativity in their performance. Attitudinally, in its effects on developers' experience of work, process maturity was experienced by many developers as enabling and empowering rather than coercive and alienating. Process maturity did mean a loss of autonomy.