Gabriela Avram

Knowledge management goals revisited: A cross‐sectional analysis of social software adoption in corporate environments

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide both practice‐oriented researchers and practitioners with detailed insights into the social software goals and implementation strategies for corporate environments. Also, to illustrate the novelty and specificity of corporate social software (CSS) compared to other groupware or knowledge management systems.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is grounded in the ongoing discussion on differences and commonalities of knowledge management and Enterprise 2.0 applications and motivated by the lack of scientific studies on this topic. The authors have therefore made a comprehensive study of social software adoption in corporate environments, performing a cross‐case analysis of 23 enterprises. The study was meant to enable researchers and practitioners to acquire a better understanding and appropriate related explanations of the relatively new phenomenon of CSS appropriation and use.Findings – From the cross‐case analysis, six main goals of CSS adoption were d...

Knowledge Management in Distributed Software Development Teams - Does Culture Matter?

Software development requires complex context specific knowledge regarding the particularities of different technologies, the potential of existing software and the needs and expectations of the users. Hence, efficient knowledge management counts amongst the most important challenges for software teams. In international teams, one of the most important issues regarding knowledge sharing is the impact of culture under different aspects: national, organizational and professional. There seem to be very few studies dealing with the issue of culture in regard to knowledge management practices in GSE. We want to contribute to the discussion by presenting case studies of small size software teams dealing with international software development in the context of offshoring. In doing so, we illustrate how cultural and social issues influence the way knowledge exchange is performed by analyzing several knowledge management practices, considering the role of meetings, artifacts and tools, knowledge brokers and mutual visits between sites.

Knowledge sharing practices and the impact of cultural factors: reflections on two case studies of offshoring in SME

The impact of culture on knowledge management in international teams is an important topic which is still not well understood. We contribute to the discussion by presenting two case studies of small software teams involved in distributed software development. In doing so, we illustrate how cultural and social issues influence the way knowledge exchange is performed by analyzing four knowledge sharing practices: status meetings and maintaining awareness, the collaborative use of shared artifacts and repositories, spending time at the other site and human ‘bridges’ that mediate between people and cultures. Our findings suggest that organizational culture is permanently re‐negotiated and adjusted to fit the distributed collaboration, as the teams learn how to deal with each other. Socialization plays a significant role in this learning process, and people are more likely to draw on national stereotypes when breakdowns occur. The influences of national culture and site‐specific organizational culture are subtle and not easy to separate from other factors. Based on our experience, we argue that in order to achieve an accurate understanding of knowledge sharing practices in globally distributed software teams, these need to be studied in context, longitudinally, and from both the onshore and offshore perspectives. Copyright

Bridging knowledge distribution - The role of knowledge brokers in distributed software development teams

Software development requires the handling of complex and context specific knowledge to be successful. Hence, efficient knowledge management (KM) counts amongst the most important challenges for any software project, but especially for small enterprises working with distributed teams. One important topic for KM in distributed teams is the role of “bridges” enacted by people who become boundary spanners and facilitate the exchange of knowledge between the sites. In our paper we present empirical findings related to such bridges in the context of two small companies with offshore sites. In doing so, we concentrate on the particular roles these knowledge brokers play in the distributed development practices. We show how small software companies rely on the commitment of particular team members and informal knowledge management practices. The paper concludes with a number of open questions to be addressed by future studies.

Bridging, Patching and Keeping the Work Flowing: Defect Resolution in Distributed Software Development

This paper reports on results from a long-term field study of globally distributed software development projects within a multinational organization. The research explores the issues involved in performing global software development, utilizing a perspective informed by CSCW research concerning the local organization of work practices and the key role of workers in being able to intervene in the ‘flow of work’ where necessary. The paper also raises some more general questions concerning the field of Global Software Development (GSD), in terms of the concepts and methods being used in the area. Our contribution is in the form of a CSCW-informed empirical study of the use of defect (or ‘bug’) tracking systems—systems which support the identification, classification and resolution of defects in the emerging software. In one case, the team persisted with a defect tracking system that they had used for years and maintained it in parallel with a system used by co-workers in other countries—all the while attempting to implement a bridge between the two. In the other, we report on how local software patches were created to allow for local work to proceed while not interfering with the existing coordination mechanisms between the local site and remote co-workers who were responsible for creating daily builds according to the overall project plan. In both cases, local practices were shaped by the necessity to keep work flowing across the whole project, even if this involved what might, at first sight, seem to go against project-wide practice. We discuss implications of these findings in terms of a key distinction between externally-prescribed ‘workflow’ and internally-managed ‘flow of work’ activities. We also explore how a heterogeneous ‘assembly’ of variably coupled systems may be the most appropriate image for technological support of distributed teams as they keep the work flowing in an orderly fashion. Overall, our work suggests that studies of global software development can profit from the CSCW tradition of workplace studies both conceptually and methodologically.

Of Deadlocks and Peopleware - Collaborative Work Practices in Global Software Development

As part of a research project dedicated to the social organizational and cultural aspects of global software development, the author has chosen to focus on collaborative work practices and knowledge management aspects of collaborative work. More precisely, the focus is on how the global distribution of software development affects collaborative work. The current paper is a first attempt to unveil, through a concrete situation observed in a distributed software development environment, the complex ways in which people use technology to establish collaborative work practices. By using ethnographically-informed methods, the author presents a bottom-up study of actual work practices, meant to contribute to a better understanding of collaborative work and knowledge management processes in distributed software development.

Sprint-driven development: working, learning and the process of enculturation in the PyPy community

In this paper we examine sprint-driven software development as it occurs in a specific Open Source community, PyPy. Applying a situated learning perspective, we report the findings from a study focused on the activities leading up to, taking place during, and following after sprints. The study included analyses of sprint reports, email archives and other documents available on the community website, as well as a one-week period of direct observation of a specific sprint. The objective of the study was to elaborate on how the practices of sprint-driven development in the PyPy community facilitate learning, the dissemination of knowledge among its members and the expansion of the Open Source community. This paper aims to assess how sprint-driven development can facilitate situated learning in distributed software development by describing the practices applied in PyPy.

Articulating Co-Design in Museums: Reflections on Two Participatory Processes

In this paper we reflect on the process of co-design by detailing and comparing two strategies for the participatory development of interaction concepts and prototypes in the context of technologically-enhanced museum visiting experiences. While much work in CSCW, HCI and related disciplines has examined different role configurations in co-design, more research is needed on examining how collaborative design processes can unfold in different ways. Here we present two instances of co-design of museum visiting aids, one stemming from an open brief, another from an initial working prototype; we discuss the process in each case and discuss how these alternative strategies presented the team with different possibilities as well as constraints, and led to different patterns of collaboration within the design team. Finally, we draw a set of themes for discussion and reflection to inform and aid researchers and practitioners participating in similar co-design processes, particularly in the domain of cultural heritage.

Global software development in a CSCW perspective

Global software development (GSD) has been an im-portant research topic in the CSCW community for more than two decades. CSCW has helped identify a significant number of challenges and solutions for han-dling distances in time, space and culture in distributed software engineering environments. However, no com-prehensive collected body of knowledge concerning research on GSD from a CSCW perspective exists yet. The goal of this workshop is to bring together research-ers and practitioners who have studied GSD from a CSCW perspective, and provide an overview of current findings and future challenges. In the workshop, we will facilitate group discussions across the diverse groups of researchers coming from ethnographic studies of soft-ware development practices and design studies of CSCW tools and processes for GSD. The goal is to pro-vide an overview of current research, which in turn may form the basis for joint publications or an edited book.

HCI at the boundary of work and life

The idea behind this Special Issue originates in a workshop on HCI and CSCW research related to work and non-work-life balance organized in conjunction with the ECSCW 2013 conference by the issue co-editors. Fifteen papers were originally submitted for possible inclusion in this Special Issue, and four papers were finally accepted for publication after two rounds of rigorous peer review. The four accepted papers explore, in different ways, HCI at the boundary of work and life. In this editorial, we offer a description of the overall theme and rationale for the Special Issue, including an introduction on the topic relevance and background, and a reflection on how the four accepted papers further current research and debate on the topic.