Agility and system documentation in large-scale enterprise system projects: a knowledge management perspective

Abstract

The growth of the agile approach usage comes with a deemphasis on formal documentation (explicit knowledge) and an increased reliance on personal interactions (tacit knowledge) for knowledge transfer. However, the sharing of tacit knowledge poses challenges. The agile approach is prone to knowledge hoarding, as well as knowledge loss from employee turnover and reassignment during periods of significant organizational changes. This study proposes a model that frames documentation and personal interactions as co-agents of system knowledge transfer. We report the preliminary confirmation of crucial antecedents along the dimensions of codification and personalization strategies to support our model. We present a set of findings on current practices, as well as a set of knowledge-sharing issues on system documentation based on three main categories. The first category incorporates system development approaches applied in large-scale enterprise systems projects. The second and the third categories comprise eight knowledge management themes, classified into the dimensions of personalization and codification for knowledge sharing and document practices. Finally, we put forward five propositions based on our findings.