Researchers propose bespoke system for knowledge management and organisational learning in software team

Purpose: The authors wanted to create a Web-based system of templates to enhance knowledge capture and organizational learning for small and start-up practices. Design/methodology/approach: The researchers studied a software team which had been created by staff and students at a university computing department. The analysis of the team’s behaviour was based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with one manager and five software developers. Based on the interviews, they proposed the bespoke system. Findings: The project templates take advantage of the knowledge and information already contained in support tools like GitLab, ActiveCollab, and Sentry. There are links to relevant documentation and components of these tools. But the templates go much further by storing detailed comments about the critical learning from projects, including the psychological insights gained from dealing with clients. The researchers felt this would help to make tacit knowledge more explicit. Originality/value: Despite the large economic importance of SMEs, they tend to lack knowledge management (KM) and organisational learning (OL) resources. As a result, much of their tacit knowledge cannot be shared easily. The concepts of KM and OL are especially relevant in the software industry, which is knowledge-intensive and generates intellectual capital as its principal asset. The researchers believe that integrating KM into the development cycle will improve system development.