With an outsider’s eyesSoftware Development from Anthropological Point of View

Nobuyuki Hosaka

Approaches of anthropologists to fieldSchools Objective/subjective Representative scholars

(Structural-)Functionalism Objective B. Malinowski, A. Radcliffe-Brown

Structuralism C. Levi-Strauss

Marxism M. Godlier

Cognitivism D. Sperber

Interpretivism Subjective C. Geertz

Postmodernism J. Clifford, G. Marcus

M. Bloch

Caution: This is a very simplified categorization.

E. Leach

Example 1: “Algocracy” (Aneesh 2006)• Regime of rule• Bureaucracy (rule by the office)• Panopticon (rule by surveillance)• Algocracy (rule by code)

• Business logic implemented in code = “all choices are already programmed and nonnegotiable”

• Version control system = “the underlying structure shaped in a way does not allow older versions to pass as newer ones”

• “implementing technical controls has long been a universal method to transfer control from workers to employers”

Example 2: Corporate Culture (Upadhya 2009)• Theory: “flat” organization, based on communication, collaboration,

teamwork and knowledge sharing• Reality:• “requiring total commitment of the self, involves the ‘super-exploitation’ of

both managers and workers”• traditional “organizational culture persists in the form of hierarchical

structures, bureaucratic mentality and ‘feudal relationships’”

Strength and weakness• Obtain insight on what insiders cannot easily recognize• See reality from wider perspective, including external conditions• Tend to impose framework from outside• Cannot convey experience of insiders, thus misrepresent them

It is not easy to use both objective and subjective perspective and draw a coherent picture.Here I will start from what is closer to engineer’s viewpoint.

Starting point: Rational calculation

Just a problem of trade-off?

Impossible rationality

We can’t search infinitely. Then what should we do?

From managers’ point of view

How to evaluate?

Engineers’ information is secondary for managers, so they have to evaluate its reliability.

From engineers’ point of view

How to persuade?

Here also logic/reason is not the only one focal point.

Politics of meaningsSymbolic meaning of an action is often important. • Use of rhetoric as a sign of bad intention / commitment• introducing practices (ex. TDD) where its effectiveness is not clear but it

is seen as advanced• staying late as a sign of dedication / incompetence

And how do others evaluate those behavior?What kind of effect do those system of meaning have?

Dealing with humans

Dealing with humans

Conflicting logic• control <-> autonomy• cooperation <-> individualism• routine <-> creative• human machine <-> active agent

Both managers and workers use both side of the dichotomy to achieve their purposes. How and in what context do they use either of the pole?

Purpose

Purpose

Different interest is the source of conflict and distrust.

Bibliography• Aneesh, A. 2006. Action Scripts: Rule of the Code. in A. Aneesh,

Virtual Migration. Durham: Duke University Press.• Upadhya, Carol. 2009. Controlling offshore knowledge workers: Power

and agency in India’s software outsourcing industry. New Technology, Work and Employment 24:1 pp.2-18.• Alvesson, Mats. 2011. De-Essentializing the Knowledge Intensive Firm:

Reflections on Sceptical Research Going against the Mainstream. Journal of Management Studies 48:7 pp.1640-1661