Knowledge Management in Software Engineering - Requirement & Benefits

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Knowledge management is an expanding and promising discipline that has drawn considerable attention. Recent developments in computer and IT technologies enable sharing documented knowledge independently of time and location.

Requirement of Knowledge Management in the Software Industry

Software organizations’ main assets are not plants, buildings, or expensive machines. A software organization’s main asset is its intellectual capital, as it is in sectors such as consulting, law, investment banking, and advertising. The major problem with intellectual capital is that it has legs and walks home every day. At the same rate, experience walks out the door, inexperience walks in the door. Whether or not many software organizations admit it, they face the challenge of sustaining the level of competence needed to win contracts and fulfill undertakings. Knowledge management is an emerging discipline that promises to capitalize on organizations’ intellectual capital. The concept of taming knowledge and putting it to work is not new; phrases containing the word knowledge, such as knowledge bases and knowledge engineering, existed before Knowledge Management became popularized.

The KM concept emerged in the mid-1980s from the need to derive knowledge from the "deluge of information" and was mainly used as a "business world" term. In the 1990s, many industries adopted the term KM in connection with commercial computer technologies, facilitated by development in areas such as the Internet, group support systems, search engines, portals, data and knowledge warehouses, and the application of statistical analysis and AI techniques. KM implementation and use have rapidly increased since the 1990s: 80 percent of the largest global corporations now have KM projects. Over 40% of Fortune 1000 companies now have a chief knowledge officer, a senior-level executive who creates an infrastructure and cultural environment for knowledge sharing.

Need of Knowledge Management in Software Engineering

Software development is a quickly changing, knowledge-intensive business involving many people working in different phases and activities. The available resources are not increasing along with the increasing needs; therefore, software organizations expect a rise in productivity. Knowledge in software engineering is diverse and its proportions immense and steadily growing. Organizations have problems identifying the content, location, and use of the knowledge. Improved use of this knowledge is the basic motivation and driver for KM in software engineering and deserves deeper analysis.

Benefits of Knowledge Management to Business Organizations

Decreasing time and cost and increasing quality

Organizations constantly need to decrease software projects’ development time and costs. Avoiding mistakes reduces rework; repeating successful processes increases productivity and the likelihood of further success. So, organizations need to apply process knowledge gained in previous projects to future projects. Unfortunately, the reality is that development teams do not benefit from existing experience and they repeat mistakes even though some individuals in the organization know how to avoid them. Project team members acquire valuable individual experience with each project - the organization and individuals could gain much more if they could share this knowledge.

Making better decisions

In software development, every person involved constantly makes technical or managerial decisions. Most of the time, team members make decisions based on personal knowledge and experience or knowledge gained using informal contacts. This is feasible in small organizations, but as organizations grow and handle a larger volume of information, this process becomes inefficient. Large organizations cannot rely on informal sharing of employees’ personal knowledge. Individual knowledge must be shared and leveraged at project and organization levels. Organizations need to define processes for sharing knowledge so that employees throughout the organization can make correct decisions.

Benefits of Knowledge Management to Software Organizations

Software organizations have vast amounts of knowledge in various areas, such as knowledge that is critical to achieving business goals. Let us look at some of these knowledge areas and organizations’ related needs.

Acquiring knowledge about new technologies

The emergence of new technologies makes software development more efficient, but at the same time, they can be a project manager’s worst nightmare. It is difficult for developers to become proficient with new technology and managers to understand its impact and estimate a project’s cost when using it. When developers or project managers use technology that a project’s team members are unfamiliar with, engineers often resort to the "learning by doing" approach, which can result in serious delays. So, organizations must quickly acquire knowledge about new technologies and master them.

Accessing domain knowledge

Software development requires access to knowledge not only about its domain and new technologies but also about the domain for which software is being developed. An organization must acquire new domain knowledge either by training or by hiring knowledgeable employees and spreading it throughout the team.

Sharing knowledge about local policies and practices

Every organization has its own policies, practices, and culture, which are not only technical but also managerial and administrative. New developers in an organization need knowledge about the existing software base and local programming conventions. Unfortunately, such knowledge typically exists as organizational folklore. Experienced developers often disseminate it to inexperienced developers through ad hoc informal meetings; consequently, not everyone has access to the knowledge they need. Passing knowledge informally is an important aspect of a knowledge-sharing culture that should be encouraged. Nonetheless, formal knowledge capturing and sharing ensures that all employees can access it. So, organizations must formalize knowledge sharing while continuing informal knowledge sharing.

Capturing knowledge and knowing who knows what

Software organizations depend heavily on knowledgeable employees because they are key to the project’s success. However, accessing these people can be difficult. Software developers apply just as much effort and attention to determining whom to contact in an organization as they do getting the job done. These knowledgeable people are also very mobile. When a person with critical knowledge suddenly leaves an organization, it creates severe knowledge gaps - but probably no one in the organization is even aware of what knowledge they lost. Knowing what employees know is necessary for organizations to create a strategy for preventing valuable knowledge from disappearing. Knowing who has what knowledge is also a requirement for efficiently staffing projects, identifying training needs, and matching employees with training offers.

Collaborating and sharing knowledge

Software development is a group activity. Group members are often geographically scattered and work in different time zones. Nonetheless, they must communicate, collaborate, and coordinate. Communication in software engineering is often related to knowledge transfer. Collaboration is related to the mutual sharing of knowledge. Group members can coordinate independently of time and space if they can easily access their work artifacts. So, group members need a way to collaborate and share knowledge independently of time and space.

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Published on: Jun 12, 2012 at 8:23 AM | Updated On: Mar 4, 2021 at 2:16 AM | Viewed: 15668 times.