Making Sense of Software Project Management: A case of knowledge sharing in software development

In this paper we empirically explore knowledge sharing in a group of project managers in the Danish software company SpaceSoft. We apply a framework of sensemaking that focuses on how people participate in creating shared meanings. The framework is used in the analysis of the case where project managers create shared knowledge in a handbook for software project management. The framework provides a rich conception of how meaning is created. It explains the importance of collisions and negotiation of the project managers’ expectations and experience. The findings add to existing theories of knowledge sharing in software development. We contribute in particular with an in depth explanation of the complex process where personal knowledge gradually turns into shared knowledge and some of it in codified form becomes part of the software project management handbook.