MANAGING NETWORKED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Sandeep Singh · 2015
Software development is increasingly performed in network organizations. The focus of attention is gradually shifting from the project as a the basic organization towards a more networked type of organization where relationships between the core project and other partners are established, exercised, maintained and dismantled. In this paper we propose a framework intended for software managers to make sense and diagnosis of the network and based on that points to possible action to be taken. The framework comprises two dimensions. In the one dimension the framework is based the theory of social capital that is used to distinguish between the coherent group of co- workers with a well-established community-of- practice where trust prevails and on the other hand a new relationship where formal control replaces trust. In the other dimension the framework is based on the concept of task uncertainty to distinguish between well-defined tasks that call for problem solving and on the other hand ill-defined tasks that call for problem definition. The framework is applied to four cases and is used to illustrate the network management in the four cases and explain some of the processes involved in the management of networked software development.