=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-34/paper-20
|storemode=property
|title=Knowledge Management and New Product Development: Learning from a Software Development Firm
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-34/shani_sena.pdf
|volume=Vol-34
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/pakm/ShaniS00
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==Knowledge Management and New Product Development: Learning from a Software Development Firm==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-34/shani_sena.pdf
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND NEW PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT: LEARNING FROM A SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT FIRM
James A. Sena
A B. (Rami) Shani California Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California
San Luis Obispo, California jsena@calpoly.edu
ashani@calpoly.edu
Abstract 1 Introduction
New product development has emerged as the lifeline for
The core of the new product development [NPD]
process centers on knowledge creation, utilization many businesses and industries. This process can be
and the management of knowledge. This characterized as complex to organize and manage. The
manuscript uses a software firm case to establish management of NDP units and processes requires both
a framework to aid managers in deciding on an maintaining a balance between order and disorder and
effective work design configuration for managing careful attention to knowledge management.
a NPD project. A framework is presented which
identified five dimensions that affect performance The core of the NPD process centers on knowledge, it's
in an NPD work environment including: the creation, utilization and the management of knowledge.
business environment; the social subsystem; the Within the context of the knowledge-base firm,
technological subsystem; the management knowledge has a critical strategic value since it fosters
system; and, the knowledge management system organizational actions and helps the firm establish
that provides the context within which NPD sustainable competitive advantage. Organizational
efforts are designed and developed. Our case knowledge is a unique asset and a scarce commodity of an
study provided an initial support to the argument organization. Yet, creating, replicating and transferring
that within the context of knowledge-based firm,
knowledge within NPD teams, between NPD teams, and
NPD can be designed as a set of dimensions, each
of which fulfills a necessary requirement for between organizational units is difficult to carry out.
achieving NPD sustainability. The requirements Managing knowledge and knowledge creation is a
for achieving sustainability include formal and complex task that gives rise to multiple organizing and
informal arenas for exchange of ideas; continuity management issues [Adl00].
of support and improvement efforts maintained
over a long period of time; team composition The breakthroughs during the last ten years in information
reflected in the totality of the business functional and communication technologies have irreversibly altered
areas of expertise; goals, scope and purpose the ability to conduct business unconstrained by the
defined and refined on an ongoing basis, and; traditional limitations of time and space [Nad99] The
effective processes for implementing continuous massive demands imposed by time compression fostered
improvements. increased attention within R&D and engineering units for
information and communication technology. One area
where enhancements can be made is continuous
improvement and change management in the NPD
process. The literature on NPD seems to be based on a
variety of disciplines and theoretical perspectives -
The copyright of this paper belongs to the paper’s authors. Permission to copy strategy, organization theory and design, organization
without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not
made or distributed for direct commercial advantage.
behavior, marketing, sociology of organizations and
Proc. of the Third Int. Conf. on Practical Aspects of engineering.
Knowledge Management (PAKM2000)
Basel, Switzerland, 30-31 Oct. 2000, (U. Reimer, ed.) Strategic management coupled with sociotechnical system
http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/Publications/CEUR-WS/Vol-34/
thinking provides a basic language and analytical
framework to advance the investigation of the relationship
A.B. Shani, J.A. Sena 19-1
between new product development and knowledge
management. The objective of this manuscript is to The business environment cluster is comprised of
establish a framework to aid managers in both deciding on elements and forces in the market place in which the firm
the most effective work design configuration for managing competes. The social subsystem cluster refers to the
a complex new product development project and to persons who work in the organization. Individual attitudes
explore the potential causal relationships between new and beliefs, competencies and skills, relationships
product development design configurations and between group members, relationships between
knowledge management. We address these relationships supervisors and subordinates, relationships between
through an illustrative case of new product development
groups, cultures, traditions, past experiences, assumptions,
in a software firm.
values, rites, rituals, work habits and practices, and
emergent role systems all are an integral part of the social
2 Towards an Alternative Framework cluster. The technological subsystem cluster refers to the
The sociotechnical systems perspective considers every tools, techniques, devices, artifacts, methods,
organization to be composed of a social subsystem (the configurations, procedures and knowledge used by the
people) using the tools, techniques and knowledge (the organizational members to acquire inputs, transform
technical subsystem) to produce a product or a service inputs into outputs and provide outputs or services to
valued by the environmental subsystem (i.e., [Pas93], clients or customers. The management systems cluster
[Tri82]). The degree to which the design of the technical refers to the systems that attempt to link the
subsystem, social subsystem, and the environmental environmental, technological and social subsystems.
subsystem are integrated determines the success and Business strategy, business design, business capabilities,
competitiveness of the organization [Sha92]. While every business processes and change management processes
organization is perceived as a sociotechnical system, not provide the key elements in this cluster. The knowledge
every organization is designed according to sociotechnical management system provides the context within which
system design principles, methods, processes and new product development efforts are designed and
philosophies. The economic performance of firms based developed.
on sociotechnical system design principles has been
significantly better than comparable organizations using 3 An Overview of the CDM Company
conventional designs [Van93].
CDM is a firm devoted to building, implementing, and
supporting agent-based “Cooperative Decision Making”
In our proposed framework we identify five clusters of
tools for distributed problem solving. Application areas
dimensions that affect performance in an NPD work
include: facilities management, transportation planning,
environment. Figure 1 portrays system performance and
military logistics and control, and engineering design. The
sustainability as an outcome that is influenced by the
organization of CDM on the surface does not appear to be
causal relationships among the five clusters.
untypical for a software development firm. The various
departmental units function with a minimum of
supervision. Frequent meetings, a good infrastructure of
networks and electronic communications, and a well-
thought through layout of workspace facilitate the firm’s
operation.
The department structure appears to be straight forward.
However, much of the product work is conducted by
supporting groups. The leadership of the product team is
divided between a product leader and a technical leader.
One product example is a contract for developing a
product (e.g. the Collaborative Infrastructure Assessment
Tool [CIAT] for the waterfront operations at the San
Diego Naval Station). The product, once developed, can
then be marketed to other customers (e.g. the Naval
Station at Pearl Harbor). Responsibility and direction is
divided among two leaders, the Product Manager and the
Technical Lead, and the various departments (e.g. testing,
customer support and training). This division of
responsibility could dilute the direct management-line for
product management – in effect, disputes or differences
Figure 1: Framework for NPD and Sustainability either have to be worked out through discussion or are
A.B. Shani, J.A. Sena 19-2
brought to senior management for resolution. This has not
been a significant problem because the work content and
work constituency is relatively homogeneous. New
products evolve from existing products and involve
technology transfer and adherence to grounded
technologies.
4 The Product Development Process
CDM has a well defined process for product development.
Figure 2 presents a graphic of this process. As in many
firm’s there are several points where an iterative cycle is
depicted. Preceding the process is the product initiation
phase where RFPs (Requests for Proposals) or to prepare
bids for sole-source contracts.. A good deal of this effort
involves customer liaison and knowledge acquisition. The
product responsibility is divided among the product
manager, the technical lead, and various support
The choice to have a dual set of product leaders – the
product manager and the technical lead is a clear example
of the rationale for stocks of knowledge. The technical
lead devotes his efforts to insure that the product evolves
by developing coordination mechanisms to support
software version control, libraries of shared and re-usable
code, and the application of agent-based technologies. In Figure 2: New Product Development Process
addition, the technical lead oversees the production of the
software team, makes assignments and reviews the work The typical system can be retrofitted to a particular
of the software developers. The technical lead coordinates customer (e.g. the Naval Station at Pearl Harbor contracts
and schedules testing and quality control. The product for the CIAT system for it's waterfront operations -- the
manager interfaces with the technical lead but is not system is then tailored to the pier configurations and
involved in the actual software development. Instead the special needs of the station.) Each product takes on a
product leader handles the external interfaces with the particular flavor by adding agents, some of which have
customer and management. Knowledge about customer been previously developed and modified to meet special
needs and expectations can be tempered and translated to customer needs, or agents that are specifically developed
agent technologies using a standardized framework for to meet unique needs. Because of this agent-based
work definition. technology CDM is successful in it's NPD and is more
able to sustain product development and viability.
The program design and testing are completely the
responsibility of the technical lead in coordination with Organization design is characterized by three key
the programming team. Similarly the hardware, services elements: differentiation, coordination and integration.
and supplies, management and customer liaison, training Since knowledge, compared to other assets is
and documentation are completely under the responsibility characterized by its intangibility, tacitness and action
of the product manager in coordination with the service relatedness, it is harder to manage in comparison to other
groups. When the product work is completed the product organizational assets. Coordination refers to the binding
is delivered to the customer by both the product manager together of the various tasks, activities and efforts. The
and the technical leader. Since CDM deals primarily in a choices made to facilitate coordination will influence the
military environment most of these contracts are modular organization’s ability to accomplish goals. The designer’s
and are spread over a series of years or periods. Thus, choice about how to bind together the tasks and activities
there is not always a clear, precise product delivered. influences the extent to which the different stocks of
Instead, the product evolves by adding features and knowledge held by individuals will be shared and acted
capabilities. CDM markets a core product (e.g. The CIAT upon. As such coordination is not only combining the
system) that consists of a basic set of agents. tasks, activities and efforts but also combining the unique
stocks of knowledge held by individuals.
The design of the CIAT product consisted of identifying
system requirements, deciding on a format for system
presentation, and specifying the system design. The spatial
agent technology employed relied on the acquisition of
A.B. Shani, J.A. Sena 19-3
data by artificial intelligence techniques in the form of 4.1 CDM’s Product Development and Sustainability
data definition and rule specification. The initial customer
There are several factors that make CDM unique with
contact was the product manger. Here the data collection
respect to supporting and enhancing product
and rule acquisition process was defined. Area specialists
sustainability. There is a clear path for product
consisting of system analysts from the programming teams
development. The CIAT team was supported by
that collected the requisite data. The database schema and
permanent support staff throughout the development.
rule base were initially defined -- this process was one of
Unlike most of the software product (or more specifically
refinement, an iterative cycle leading to greater and
project) development efforts there is a small nucleus
greater detail.
formed for the actual development. There is not the
All of these agents must be defined jointly by the technical project "ramp up -- team assembly" that often occurs in
lead and the product manager along with area experts software development. Instead, an ongoing set of teams
during the product design phase. The product manager (e.g. programming, testing, and service) provide stability
and the technical lead together compile the estimates and and an external perspective.
schedules for the product construction, Here
The intelligent agent and modular software components
arrangements need to be made with programming teams,
form a software warehouse that allows CDM to roll-out
testing groups, service groups, as well as preparing for
alternative versions. Once an agent is developed it stands
documentation and training. All of these teams or groups
as a sub-product or feature that can be interfaced or
are independent of the product itself. They transcend the
included in the system. In this way business results can be
product, existing as entities beyond the product work.
sustained. Even though CDM has a strong social
This is a key element for sustainability. Since they have
atmosphere and optimal working conditions there is little
major ongoing products with the military that are now in
"ego" involvement in the product development -- the main
the maintenance mode these business areas must exist to
concern is making certain that the system is a quality
support those products but on the other hand they can
product. The focus is on "how" best to design the agents
ramp up to provide the needed services for new product
not "who" is doing the design.
developments.
The product construction consists of parallel operations. 5 Discussion and Conclusions
Here the technical lead and the product manager work
somewhat independently. The computer programs are The study of the NPD at CDM provides an initial support
written by the programming team. Many reusable modules to the argument that within the context of knowledge-
are deployed – taking advantage of existing based firm, NPD can be designed and managed in various
technology/expertise and work already tried and tested. ways. These "various ways" can be described as a set of
This is another ingredient in sustainability, they do not dimensions, each of which fulfills a necessary requirement
have to create a new product from scratch. The for achieving NPD sustainability. The set of necessary but
programming team members may be involved in multiple not sufficient requirements for achieving sustainability can
developments at the same time. The product definition be referred to as design requirements. Looking at the
and design are such that coders and programmer are CDM case the following are a few of the design
somewhat interchangeable. requirements that seem to have been utilized: Legitimate
formal and informal arenas for exchange of ideas were
As modules are developed they are turned over to the created; the continuity of support and improvement efforts
testing group. Each module goes through a variety of tests for the products was maintained over a long period of
– unit testing of each module and system testing of the time; the composition of the NPD team reflected the
modules together. The testing group is accustomed to totality of the business functional areas of expertise; goals,
working with agent technologies and is familiar with their scope and purpose for the NPD teams were defined and
presentation system. Before any product is presented to refined on an ongoing basis, and; there were effective
the customer it is tested for internal reliability and processes for implementing continuous improvements
adherence to specifications. As the testing and during the NPD process.
programming proceeds documentation is initiated. CDM
has an independent group that produces professional One of the key findings from the case is that CDM
quality manuals, online and web-based materials. They established some type of a legitimate forum for exchange
liaison with the technical lead, the programming team and of ideas and actions. From an organization design
the testing group. While the CIAT programs are being perspective, the forum is seen as a mechanism with a
developed, tested and documented the service group structural configuration and processes that are devoted to
arranged for the purchase and configuration of the improvements and learning. The iterative cycles approach
network and workstations for the customer. coupled with the deliberation mechanisms for
information-sharing and sense-making provided an
ongoing opportunity to improve and sustain business
A.B. Shani, J.A. Sena 19-4
results and a way to foster learning at all levels and across
all levels of the firm. Our case suggests that not only is a
learning mechanism an integral part of sustainability but
that the type of the learning mechanism is a clear
managerial choice that has a significant influence on the
organizational ability to develop and nurture
sustainability.
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