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Exploring knowledge management in agile software development organizations

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Abstract

Knowledge represents a sustainable asset for innovative firms and specifically software industries working in unpredictable environments. Until the late 90’s, the most widely used software development approaches advocated extensive documentation and traceability. The emphasized knowledge is mainly explicit. However, with the dynamics of progress of technologies and the market changing demands, extensive planning and documentation are quickly becoming obsolete. As such, more flexible methods, called agile methods, have gained popularity. These methods value collective learning and close collaboration between team members. To this day, little research has shown how agile software development supports knowledge management initiatives. This research helps fill this gap by reviewing the related work on agile software development by focusing on and examining knowledge management initiatives in agile organizations. We developed a theoretical model of knowledge management in agile environments. Our findings highlight the way knowledge management is embedded in agile practices, including continuous communication, iterative development, knowledge repositories and engineering practices. It also emphasizes the importance of knowledge management in Information Technology development organizations.

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Notes

  1. DSDM is an agile project delivery framework, primarily used as a software development method. First released in 1994, DSDM advocates iterative and incremental development approach, user involvement, quality, frequent communication, delivery on time, etc.

  2. Scrum employs an iterative and incremental approach for managing projects. Three pillars uphold the development process: transparency, inspection and adaptation (Sutherland and Schwaber 2010).

  3. Extreme programming method relies on a set of engineering practices (unit-test, continuous integration) and collaboration practices (iterative development, client-on-site, pair programming) that ensure knowledge capitalization and enhance communication and code quality (Beck and Andres 2004).

  4. Lean development consists of a set of principles (eliminate wastes, build quality, create knowledge, defer commitment, deliver fast) and practices (e, unit-tests) that aim at eliminating waste and delivering on a time a product with a good quality (Poppendieck and Poppendieck 2003; Poppendieck and Poppendieck 2006).

  5. Unit-tests are created before the code itself is written.

  6. It consists on integrating and building the system many times a day, every time a task is completed.

  7. Based on the classification by the OECD found on: https://data.oecd.org/entrepreneur/enterprises-by-business-size.htm

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paris Descartes University, 45 rue des Saints-Pères, 75006, Paris, France

    Carine Khalil

  2. Cedars-Sinai Health Services Research, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Carine Khalil

  3. ICD Paris – International Business School, 12 rue Alexandre Parodi, 75010, Paris, France

    Sabine Khalil

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  1. Carine Khalil
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  2. Sabine Khalil
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Correspondence to Carine Khalil.

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Khalil, C., Khalil, S. Exploring knowledge management in agile software development organizations. Int Entrep Manag J 16, 555–569 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-019-00582-9

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