Abstract

In this article we present a perspective that considers information systems development as a knowledge creation process. By analysing the literature we evidenced a gap between two streams of thinking: the artefact-centric and the process-centric point of view. The first one focuses on the artefact characteristics but does not consider information systems development (ISD) as a process. The second one emphasizes the development methodology and its dynamics but, even when it considers the IT artefact as the main product of the process, it does not detail the specific characteristics that the artefact should have. With the intention of filling this gap we utilize the communities of practice theory as a framework to understand and make explicit the knowledge processes that lie camouflaged into ISD processes and artefacts. The main contribution of the article is to make explicit the intertwined knowledge nature of ISD process and product and the reasons and the conditions under which it is convenient to consider knowledge creation between the communities of developers and users as one of the main goals of ISD. The proposed perspective emerges from a theoretical deductive reasoning. According to an interpretative viewpoint, an ISD project is then analyzed to illustrate the practical applicability of the perspective. The empirical evidences show some preliminary suggestions for the planning of the ISD activities.

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