Re‐Use or Re‐Invent? Understanding and Supporting Learning from Experience of Peers in a Product Development Community*

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, we describe usage patterns of a design information system, and discuss issues of learning from experience of peers through socially and technologically mediated interactions in a product development community. The study spanned from 1994–1999 and involved a graduate level project‐based course at Stanford University. A web‐based design information system was put in place to enable project teams to store design information, and to access information previously stored by their peer teams from the current year and from prior years. Quantitative analyses of access logs to the system identified patterns of usage, and qualitative interviews identified social issues on such usage. The analyses answer two underlying assumptions associated with such systems to show that with regards to re‐use: 1) more data do not correlate with more usage, and 2) more usage does not necessarily correlate with higher performance, except when over a longer‐term basis. Additionally, patterns of usage show a significantly higher ratio of access to process‐related files than to project‐related files, and show a temporal access pattern that is demand‐driven and closely matches project deliverables and milestones. User interviews identified social factors that significantly influence how teams use the system, such as teaching staff recommending particular information to particular teams.