Supporting Expertise Coordination in Multidisciplinary Project Teams

Distributed product development teams require integration of expertise from multiple technical disciplines and, in some companies, geographical and organizational diversity as well. Systems engineering methodologies can be applied to measure and support the effectiveness of knowledge sharing in complex, time sensitive development environments. In addition, effective knowledge sharing can reduce the incidence of failed coordination and adverse events. In this paper, three conceptual frameworks are proposed to help address these issues. Concepts of knowledge clusters, multiple dimensions of expertise, and information foraging are shown to affect structure, process and timing of team behaviors and project outcomes. These frameworks provide systematic analysis and usable knowledge sharing tools to coordinate knowledge transfer across expertise boundaries within a product development team. Specific methods can be used to move information across these boundaries to improve information alignment and organization...