Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture

Mansooreh Zahedi; Muhammad Ali Babar

doi:10.1145/2601248.2601293

Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture

Mansooreh Zahedi, Muhammad Ali Babar

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Context: Software engineering is a knowledge intensive activity
that is supported by documenting and sharing the required
knowledge through a wide variety of artifacts. Global Software
Development (GSD) teams heavily rely on artifacts as a vital
means of knowledge sharing. However, there is little empirical
knowledge about the key reasons and practices of using artifacts
in GSD for knowledge sharing to support common understanding
of technical specifications. Objective: This study aims at
empirically studying the key motivators, practices, and drawbacks
of artifact-based knowledge sharing for achieving common
understanding of technical specifications in the context of GSD.
Method: We conducted an exploratory case study in an
organization that was involved in several GSD projects. Results:
Our findings revealed the key challenges that necessitated the use
of artifacts for sharing technical specification knowledge. We also
present the practices that make up the artifact-based knowledge
sharing system in the studied case. Finally, we shed some light on
the caveats of knowledge sharing practices adopted by the studied
company. The findings can provide useful insights into the
artifact-based knowledge sharing practices and how it can be
complemented by having certain level of social ties among
distributed team members, even through asynchronous means.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering : EASE '14
Editors	Martin Shepperd, Tracy Hall, Ingunn Myrtveit
Number of pages	10
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Publication date	13 May 2014
Article number	11
ISBN (Print)	978-1-4503-2476-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2601248.2601293
Publication status	Published - 13 May 2014
Event	International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering - London, United Kingdom Duration: 13 May 2014 → 14 May 2014 Conference number: 18 http://ease2014.org/

Conference

Conference	International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering
Number	18
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	London
Period	13/05/2014 → 14/05/2014
Internet address	http://ease2014.org/

Series	Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering

Keywords

Knowledge management
Global software development (GSD)
Case Study
Process Improvement
human factors

Access to Document

10.1145/2601248.2601293

http://dl.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=2601293&ftid=1482910&dwn=1&CFID=506908959&CFTOKEN=97738306

NexGSD: Next Generation Technology for Global Software Development
Bardram, J. (PI), Bjørn, P. (CoI), Babar, M. A. (CoI), Chauhan, A. (CoI), Esbensen, M. (CoI), Jensen, R. E. (CoI), Matthiesen, S. (CoI), Jeuris, S. (CoI), Zahedi, M. (CoI), Jensen, R. E. (CoI), Tell, P. (CoI), Dittrich, Y. (CoI) & Giuffrida, R. (PI)
IFD - Innovation Fund Denmark
01/01/2011 → 31/12/2016
Project: Research

Cite this

Zahedi, M., & Babar, M. A. (2014). Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture. In M. Shepperd, T. Hall, & I. Myrtveit (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering: EASE '14 Article 11 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2601248.2601293

Zahedi, Mansooreh ; Babar, Muhammad Ali. / Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering: EASE '14. editor / Martin Shepperd ; Tracy Hall ; Ingunn Myrtveit. Association for Computing Machinery, 2014. (Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering).

@inproceedings{e0e212cc6e84481da27183b23a1e7003,

title = "Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture",

abstract = "Context: Software engineering is a knowledge intensive activitythat is supported by documenting and sharing the requiredknowledge through a wide variety of artifacts. Global SoftwareDevelopment (GSD) teams heavily rely on artifacts as a vitalmeans of knowledge sharing. However, there is little empiricalknowledge about the key reasons and practices of using artifactsin GSD for knowledge sharing to support common understandingof technical specifications. Objective: This study aims atempirically studying the key motivators, practices, and drawbacksof artifact-based knowledge sharing for achieving commonunderstanding of technical specifications in the context of GSD.Method: We conducted an exploratory case study in anorganization that was involved in several GSD projects. Results:Our findings revealed the key challenges that necessitated the useof artifacts for sharing technical specification knowledge. We alsopresent the practices that make up the artifact-based knowledgesharing system in the studied case. Finally, we shed some light onthe caveats of knowledge sharing practices adopted by the studiedcompany. The findings can provide useful insights into theartifact-based knowledge sharing practices and how it can becomplemented by having certain level of social ties amongdistributed team members, even through asynchronous means.",

keywords = "Knowledge management, Global software development (GSD), Case Study, Process Improvement, human factors, Knowledge management, Global software development (GSD), Case Study, Process Improvement, human factors",

author = "Mansooreh Zahedi and Babar, {Muhammad Ali}",

year = "2014",

month = may,

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doi = "10.1145/2601248.2601293",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-4503-2476-2",

series = "Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

editor = "Martin Shepperd and Tracy Hall and Ingunn Myrtveit",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering",

address = "United States",

note = " International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, EASE ; Conference date: 13-05-2014 Through 14-05-2014",

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Zahedi, M & Babar, MA 2014, Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture. in M Shepperd, T Hall & I Myrtveit (eds), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering: EASE '14., 11, Association for Computing Machinery, Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, London, United Kingdom, 13/05/2014. https://doi.org/10.1145/2601248.2601293

Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture. / Zahedi, Mansooreh; Babar, Muhammad Ali.
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering: EASE '14. ed. / Martin Shepperd; Tracy Hall; Ingunn Myrtveit. Association for Computing Machinery, 2014. 11 (Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering).

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture

AU - Zahedi, Mansooreh

AU - Babar, Muhammad Ali

N1 - Conference code: 18

PY - 2014/5/13

Y1 - 2014/5/13

N2 - Context: Software engineering is a knowledge intensive activitythat is supported by documenting and sharing the requiredknowledge through a wide variety of artifacts. Global SoftwareDevelopment (GSD) teams heavily rely on artifacts as a vitalmeans of knowledge sharing. However, there is little empiricalknowledge about the key reasons and practices of using artifactsin GSD for knowledge sharing to support common understandingof technical specifications. Objective: This study aims atempirically studying the key motivators, practices, and drawbacksof artifact-based knowledge sharing for achieving commonunderstanding of technical specifications in the context of GSD.Method: We conducted an exploratory case study in anorganization that was involved in several GSD projects. Results:Our findings revealed the key challenges that necessitated the useof artifacts for sharing technical specification knowledge. We alsopresent the practices that make up the artifact-based knowledgesharing system in the studied case. Finally, we shed some light onthe caveats of knowledge sharing practices adopted by the studiedcompany. The findings can provide useful insights into theartifact-based knowledge sharing practices and how it can becomplemented by having certain level of social ties amongdistributed team members, even through asynchronous means.

AB - Context: Software engineering is a knowledge intensive activitythat is supported by documenting and sharing the requiredknowledge through a wide variety of artifacts. Global SoftwareDevelopment (GSD) teams heavily rely on artifacts as a vitalmeans of knowledge sharing. However, there is little empiricalknowledge about the key reasons and practices of using artifactsin GSD for knowledge sharing to support common understandingof technical specifications. Objective: This study aims atempirically studying the key motivators, practices, and drawbacksof artifact-based knowledge sharing for achieving commonunderstanding of technical specifications in the context of GSD.Method: We conducted an exploratory case study in anorganization that was involved in several GSD projects. Results:Our findings revealed the key challenges that necessitated the useof artifacts for sharing technical specification knowledge. We alsopresent the practices that make up the artifact-based knowledgesharing system in the studied case. Finally, we shed some light onthe caveats of knowledge sharing practices adopted by the studiedcompany. The findings can provide useful insights into theartifact-based knowledge sharing practices and how it can becomplemented by having certain level of social ties amongdistributed team members, even through asynchronous means.

KW - Knowledge management

KW - Global software development (GSD)

KW - Case Study

KW - Process Improvement

KW - human factors

KW - Knowledge management

KW - Global software development (GSD)

KW - Case Study

KW - Process Improvement

KW - human factors

U2 - 10.1145/2601248.2601293

DO - 10.1145/2601248.2601293

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 978-1-4503-2476-2

T3 - Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering

BT - Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering

A2 - Shepperd, Martin

A2 - Hall, Tracy

A2 - Myrtveit, Ingunn

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering

Y2 - 13 May 2014 through 14 May 2014

ER -

Zahedi M, Babar MA. Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture. In Shepperd M, Hall T, Myrtveit I, editors, Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering: EASE '14. Association for Computing Machinery. 2014. 11. (Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering). doi: 10.1145/2601248.2601293

Knowledge Sharing for Common Understanding of Technical Specifications Through Artifactual Culture

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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Projects

NexGSD: Next Generation Technology for Global Software Development

Cite this