Analyzing Knowledge Transfer in Software Maintenance Organizations using an Agent- and Goal-oriented Analysis Technique - an Experience Report

Software maintenance is a knowledge intensive activity. Implementing effective knowledge management policies and structures during maintenance is therefore a key factor to improving software quality and maintenance productivity. This paper presents a novel agent and goal-oriented analysis technique that was used at Ericsson Marconi Spa to analyze the successful adoption of organizational structures and policies which greatly facilitated knowledge transfer. Utilizing this analysis technique helped to systematically represent, capture and analyze the strategic organizational relationships relevant to knowledge transfer. By capturing and analyzing such strategic relationships, it was possible to make visible the reasons why newly adopted policies and structures improved knowledge transfer, and thus helped the maintenance team to achieve significant improvements in their maintenance processes, and successfully achieve their software maintenance goals.