A Method to Evaluate Knowledge Resources in Agile Software Development

Background: Organizations adopting Agile Software Development (ASD) use different Knowledge Management (KM) practices to retain and share knowledge. However, it is often the case that knowledge retention is carried out in an ad-hoc way. Aims: In this study, we report our experience from proposing the Knowledge Critically Evaluation Method (KCEM) to evaluate knowledge items (KIT). Our main goal with KCEMs is to support companies to systematically retain knowledge in ASD contexts. Method: We conducted an improvement case study to develop and evaluate KCEM. This research follows the guidelines for technology transfer between industry and academia. The case and unit of analysis is Ericsson, a Swedish company that develops telecommunication solutions. Results: In this paper, we provide initial results of both lab and static validation, enriched by the lessons learned. Conclusions: The preliminary results show that KCEM is easy to understand and use, provides a different perspective on the KIT by visualizing in the criticality chart, and reduces the level of abstraction associated to a knowledge subject area.