FACILITATING DESIGN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT BY TAILORING SOFTWARE PATTERNS TO ORGANIZATIONAL ROLES

This paper considers knowledge management in software development from organizational roles ’ viewpoint. The focus is on software patterns, which are seen as means to facilitate the design knowledge management. In this paper, patterns are promoted by tailoring their presentation according to the specific needs of each role. Roles ’ needs are justified by a case study made in a Finnish software organization. Pattern presentation formats are analyzed considering different skills of roles. The analysis reveals that different roles can best utilize different parts of pattern descriptions. As a result, a tentative model is built where relationships between roles and pattern parts are depicted. The result can be used to promote patterns as means for managing the design knowledge in organizations