Standard Requirement and its Technological Allies. A Socio-material Study of Requirement Tools as Boundary Objects.

Ronny Gey, Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena

Description

In this paper, I apply a sociomateriality perspective to understand the organizational practice around boundary objects as suggested by Doolin and McLeod (2012). I use findings from two case studies, which focus on the introduction and usage of a requirement tool in the software development department of two German engineering organisations. The organizations introduced these tools to monitor the compliance to several product and process standards. In the analysis, I applied the sociomaterial concepts of practice, temporal emergence, sociomaterial agency, performativity and multiplicity. The results show that developing boundary objects into a standardized infrastructure is not a straightforward task and needs the backup of the higher management, the involvement of the majority of group members, intentions towards the tool that are open to negotiation and knowledge transfer and an organizational structure that supports knowledge transfer.

 
Aug 10th, 12:00 AM

Standard Requirement and its Technological Allies. A Socio-material Study of Requirement Tools as Boundary Objects.

In this paper, I apply a sociomateriality perspective to understand the organizational practice around boundary objects as suggested by Doolin and McLeod (2012). I use findings from two case studies, which focus on the introduction and usage of a requirement tool in the software development department of two German engineering organisations. The organizations introduced these tools to monitor the compliance to several product and process standards. In the analysis, I applied the sociomaterial concepts of practice, temporal emergence, sociomaterial agency, performativity and multiplicity. The results show that developing boundary objects into a standardized infrastructure is not a straightforward task and needs the backup of the higher management, the involvement of the majority of group members, intentions towards the tool that are open to negotiation and knowledge transfer and an organizational structure that supports knowledge transfer.