Evidence-Based Best Practices Collections

Abstract

For capturing and transferring knowledge between different projects and organizations, the concept of a Best Practice is commonly used. A similar but more general concept for knowledge capturing is often referred to as a Lesson Learned. Both best practices and lessons learned are frequently organized in the form of knowledge collections. Such collections exist in many forms and flavours: From simple notes on a white board, to paper file collections on a shelf, to electronic versions filed in a common folder or shared drive, to systematically archived and standardized versions in experience and databases, or even specific knowledge management systems. In the past few decades, many organizations have invested much time and effort in such specific knowledge collections (e.g., databases, experience repositories) for best practices and/ or lessons learned. The driving force behind all these activities is to disseminate knowledge about proven solutions to their workforce. Ultimately, the goal is to avoid mistakes and improve the overall workflow and processes to possibly save money and gain a competitive advantage.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Learning (Software) Organization: A Learning Organization has processes and mechanisms in place that constantly monitor and control its processes and products. Immediate corrective actions will be taken if quality does not meet the defined standards or improvement potential is detected. A Learning Software Organization (LSO) is a learning organization in the domain of software development.

Explicit Knowledge: This term refers to documented knowledge (e.g., in the form of publications, or web-pages) rather then tacit knowledge which is only available through people (i.e., this kind of knowledge only exists in the human brain).