Facilitating of knowledge transfer in a software development company

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 916; no. 1; pp. 12121 - 12126
• Main Authors: Țîrlea, A V, Bădilă, M I, Kifor, C V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.09.2020
• Subjects: Company structure; Documentation; Knowledge; Knowledge management; Software; Software development; Standardization; Time measurement
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/916/1/012121

In an organization, knowledge transfer between its members is vital. Most studies conducted up to this date have focused on knowledge transfer in the field of industrial production. If in this branch of knowledge, where operations and processes have a certain degree of standardization and repeatability, this is done through initial and possibly periodic training, in the matter of software development things are more complicated. Tasks do not resemble with each other, most are unique and often require documentation before being resolved. Obtaining documentation from external environments often involves work on adapting to the organization's requirements and to the project's requirements also. In an organization without a constant direct interaction between the members, the transfer of knowledge requires much labor. In this paper, we propose the design and implementation of a software solution that will facilitate the transfer of knowledge between the developers of a software development company. This internal database will include the solutions identified, adapted, and used by programmers to solve non-familiar tasks. Also, a collection will be created with the errors encountered throughout the development and implementation process and their resolution, useful for all members of the organization. Every time a team will meet an unfamiliar functionality in an assigned task, it will consult the internal database. In this way, the solution will be easier reached and adapted from the source. External sources of documentation and research will only be used if the internal search has not returned a solution to the problem. In this case, following the solving steps, the familiar solution will be added to the internal database for future use. Finally, we will measure the benefits of the proposed and implemented solution. Ultimately, the rate of use of a solution stored in the database over a period of time will be measured, along with the average time of solving a task in the development process, when making use of the internal knowledge and solutions base.