Generating and AcquiringOrganizational Knowledge : - A Case Study at a Large IT-OrganizationManaging Projects using both Agile and Traditionalmethods

Abstract: The IT industry’s main capital is not built into plants, buildings or machines, instead the core assetsof this industry is the knowledge of its employees. Within this knowledge intensive industry,organizational learning and efficient knowledge management becomes key for development,productivity and competitive advantage.Moreover, there is a current trend within IT organizations, away from traditional projectmanagement methods towards projects managed agile. One major difference between agile projectmanagement and traditional project management is the type of knowledge that is generated. Dueto this, different strategies and for knowledge management is required in order to achieveorganizational learning. However, there are no established recommendations how this is done inan organization managing projects both traditional and agile. Therefore, this study investigatedwhat strategies and methods to apply to enhance organizational knowledge in a large ITorganization - managing projects using both agile and traditional methods.This has been done by conducting a case study at Scania IT, a large IT company managing projectusing both traditional and agile project management methods. Moreover, the findings from thecase study were triangulated using a benchmark study and expert interviews.This investigation concludes that a personalization strategy is preferably applied in large ITorganizations managing projects using both agile and traditional methods. Furthermore, the studyshows that intra-project learning is the basis from which organizational knowledge can be formed.For organizations using both traditional and agile project management methods, the agile approachof continuous reflections should be adopted in all projects - regardless of project managementmethod - to enhance intra-project knowledge. Furthermore, to extrapolate project knowledge toorganizational knowledge, focus should be put on networks and knowledge carriers. Efficientnetworks will promote knowledge sharing between project while knowledge carriers enableorganizational knowledge to be formed.