software engineering and knowledge creation in nokia

1 © NOKIA NordIoD01s.PPT/ 2001-05-31 / Kari Känsälä

Software Engineering and Knowledge Creation in Nokia

11th NORD I&DMay 30 - June 1, 2001. Reykjavik, Iceland

Kari KänsäläSenior R&D Manager

Nokia Research Center (NRC)


Content

• Nokia• Corporation• worldwide software (SW) R&D

• Communities of Practice (CoPs)• generally within and between companies• in Nokia

• Knowledge Creation • modes (by I. Nonaka & H. Takeuchi: The Knowledge-Creating

Company, 1995)• organizational levels in Nokia

• SW engineering knowledge creation in Nokia• mode by mode vs. organizational levels• using activities supported by NRC as examples

• Summary & conclusions


• World's largest manufacturer of mobile phones

• A leading end-to-end infrastructure supplier

• Three Business Groups• Nokia Mobile Phones• Nokia Networks • Nokia Ventures Organization

• More than 60 000 employees

• Net sales EUR 30.4 billion 2000• ~All products and solutions are SW

intensive For further details refer to www.nokia.com


Sales offices

R&D (most with SW R&D)

Production, incl. joint ventures

Nokia Software (SW) R&D Worldwide

Number of SW developers (SW for Nokia's products) has grown

• from 1000 in 1990 to10000+ currently

• 60+% of all R&D, and 15+% of Nokia’s employees


Communities of practice (CoP)

novices

experts"o ld-tim ers"

The zone of legitimateperipheral participation

Community of Practice:

• shared knowledge• same well-known experts *• shared 'tools'• shared practices• shared identity

* An expert is a person who defines what counts as knowledge


External and internal communities

novices

experts"o ld-

tim ers"

novices

experts"o ld-

tim ers"

community z

com pany x com pany y

a) a w idely distributed community

b) an internalized community

Source: I. Tuomi,1998


Nokia Corporation in theory

Team A

Team B

Business Processes

Business Group/

Business Units


Nokia in practice

Team A

Team B

Business ProcessesProcess Team

Interest group

Interest group

Inte

res

t gro

up

Community of Practice



Community of Interest


Source: P. Kasper, 2000


Knowledge Creation ModesTacit (subjective) to Explicit (objective)

Tacit Knowledge KnowledgeKnowledge

Shared * ConceptualKnowledge Knowledge

fromOperational SystemicKnowledge Knowledge

ExplicitKnowledge

Source: Nonaka & Takeuchi,1995* initially: Sympathized


SW Engineering Knowledge Creation in Nokia from the NRC

viewpoint*

Business Units (BUs) Knowledge tailoring (and usage)

NRC* Knowledge R&D and transfer

Nokia Knowledge platforms and services

*There are similar SW engineering knowledge enhancement & transfer parties in Business Units as well

Nokia's SW Engineering CoPs &

Knowledge


Shared SW Engineering Knowledge in Nokia

Knowledge sharing in/by BUs***

NSEF**

SGP*

* Sharing Good Practices (SGP)

• covers all Business Processes• seven explicit SGP steps• SGP sharing base on Intranet

** Nokia SW Engineering Forum - next slide

*** Knowledge sharing in/by Business Units

• role-based networks (quality, testing,...)• benchmarking with other companies

Conceptualknowledge

Systemicknowledge

Operationalknowledge


NSEF

• since 1993; initially as separateseminars or Forums

• 36 separate events in 2000

• currently xxxx names in the mailing list


Conceptual SW Engineering Knowledge

in NokiaKnowledge sharing in BUs

NSEFSGP

* Nokia Information Services (IS)• electronic sources (market reports,

news , technology information)• local library & info services (document

delivery, IR, periodicals, purchases)

** NRC research & cooperation - next slide

*** Conceptual work by Business Units• piloting in R&D projects• commenting in standardization

Conceptual work by BUs***

NRC research & cooperation**Nokia IS*Systemicknowledge



SW Engineering Research & Cooperation

by NRC• Participation in international standardization, concerning e.g.

• ISO standards• ISO15504 (a.k.a. SPICE) since 1993

• CMM de-facto standards• CMMI (Stakeholder Team) since 1998

• Participation in European research projects, e.g.• ITEA/ESAPS (Engineering SW Architectures, Processes and Platforms for

System Families) • since 1999, to be followed by a deployment project• a result: extension of SPICE process model to cover SW product line

processes

• SW engineering benchmarking with other large corporations• SW Experience Center

• with ABB, Boeing, DaimlerChrysler, and Motorola,• facilitated by Fraunhofer IESE (Germany) and Fraunhofer Center-Maryland

(USA)

• Cooperation with SW engineering process, method & tool vendors


Systemic SW Engineering Knowledge

in NokiaKnowledge sharing in BUs

NSEFSGP

* Nokia Product Creation (PC) Process Solutions• corporate-wide PC process

platforms,• incl. cross-Business Group processes

** SW Process Framework by NRC - next slide

*** Business Groups' PC Process Solutions • based on common platforms, but may• vary according to the product portfolio

Conceptual work by BUs

NRC research & cooperationNokia ISNokia PCP Solutions*

SPF by NRC**Business Groups' PCP

Solutions***



NRC's SW Process Framework (SPF)

ExistingSW/system

PRMs

Good practices in Nokia BUs

& outside Nokia

SW ProcessReference Model

(SPRM) v2.0

SW ProcessRef. Glossary

(SPRG)

• SPICE v2.0• proc. categories• (sub)processes• base practices

• Links to CMM

• Web links

• References toSW/systems process std's

• CMM v1.1• levels• KPAs• key practices

• SPRM vs.• CMM v1.1• ISO 9000-3• ISO12207• IEEE 1074• J-STD-016

• SE-CMM• IEEE 1220• EIA-IS-632

• SW relatedBusiness Processes

• SW related Product Creation Processes

• SW developmentprocesses

• Glossaries

• SW Process Framework (SPF) released in 1996

• based on SW process model ISO/SPICE v2.0 (October 1996)

• to be replaced by SW Product Line Process Framework (SPLPF) in 2001based on ESAPS results

• SW engineeringknowledge base to be used by Business Units


Operational SW Engineering Knowledge

by NRC SupportKnowledge sharing in BUs

NSEF

SGP

* Nokia Product Creation Process• a Nokia Business Process: others

are• Delivery Process• Business Support Process

** Business Unit's SW Engineering Process

- next slide

*** SW Projects' Processes in Business Units

• actual SW processes in SW projects


NRC research & cooperationNokia ISNokia PC

Process*BU SWEP with

NRC**SPPs in BUs***

Nokia PCP SolutionsSPF by NRC

Business Groups' PCP Solutions

Rationale for SW engineeringknowledge creation


SW Engineering Process (SWEP) in Business Units with NRC

• NMP SWEP was initially released in 1996 based on SPICE v2.0; latest release is #18

• NMP SWEP includes hundreds of process assets, e.g. 228 processes or procedures,101 work products, and 42 roles

• there are similar SWEPs also in other Business Groups


SW Engineering Knowledge Creation Cycle


Std's<->NRC (1993…2000…)Nokia ISNokia PCP Solutions

SPF&SPLPF/NRC (1995…2001…)

Business Groups' PCP Solutions

Nokia PC ProcessBU SWEPs (1996…2001…)

SPPs in BUs

Knowledge sharing in BUs

NSEF (1995…2000...)

SGP

• Example (1st paradigm cycle finished, 2nd cycle beginning): • SW process knowledge sharing -> SW process reference models

SW process manual of BUs <- SW process framework <-


Summary & Conclusions

• Knowledge creation is one of the most challenging activities in a large corporation

• SW engineering knowledge creation is especially important, because ~all products are SW intensive

• All knowledge creation modes (shared, conceptual, systemic, operational) must be supported or at least facilitated at all organizational levels

• It takes years to conclude the full knowledge creation cycle, including the shift of the corresponding paradigm

• Real SW development in real SW projects is the only essential part of the cycle: if it does not happen, then everything else is in vain!

Thank you! Any questions?

software engineering and knowledge creation in nokia

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