Development Process Knowledge Transfer through Method Adaptation, Implementation, and Use

Abstract: Information Systems Engineering (ISE) is an interdisciplinary approach to enable the realisation of successful information systems in a broad sense. ISE comprises a number of areas of expertise that must be integrated and managed in order to build information systems. Since ISE is becoming progressively more complex there is an increasing need to codify and manage knowledge within and about the ISE process. From a knowledge perspective the different model types created in an ISE project are examples of codified knowledge about the future system. The descriptions of how work should proceed are examples of codified knowledge of the process of creating the system. In summary, one of the main concerns in the ISE process is to manage the substantial amount of knowledge associated with the process as such as well as with the target domain of the actual development project and the developed software. In the thesis I recognise three areas of knowledge in ISE: development process knowledge, target domain knowledge, and software knowledge. Furthermore, I use a set of knowledge perspectives in order to describe and analyse ISE from a knowledge perspective. Finally, I introduce three aspects: organisation, artefact, and individual in order to be able to discuss and analyse how methods are actually used in organisations and how they affect the work situation. The results are presented in the form of a framework for knowledge transfer in ISE that comprises the knowledge perspective, the knowledge area, and the aspect of knowledge transfer. The framework is thus used to analyse the results from the six papers enclosed in the thesis. The results also comprise an empirical characterisation of a method in use which is based on data collected during an ethnographical study. Finally the results are made concrete in the form of a pattern collection for method introduction and method use.