Networking beyond the software code? an explorative examination of the development of an open source car project

At present, several initiatives have emerged that claim to be innovative while acting according to the mechanisms of open source software (OSS), a field frequently deemed to be a role model for open innovation. Against this background, this study focuses on a case study of the development of an automobile. Based on a commons-based peer production-informed perspective, we show that this project displays a variety of characteristics that are usually associated with OSS projects. In particular, parallels can be drawn between the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, the ability to ‘broadcast’ ideas due to the virtual nature of the tasks, and the self-selection of tasks due to their modular nature. The drawing of such parallels, however, must be done cautiously because diverse factors, such as opportunity costs, regulations, and feasibility studies, limit the applicability of OSS principles to this non-software related network of dispersed voluntary contributors within a commons-based peer production framework. Herein, we attempt to clarify how OSS projects can and cannot work as role models for open innovation in the automotive as well as other product-oriented industries.     

Commercial versus open source software: the role of product heterogeneity in competition

The emergence and market success of Linux in recent years has been impressive. The paper investigates the question of why some producers of a proprietary software support the development of open source software (OSS) while others refuse any support. As an analytical framework, a simple Launhardt–Hotelling model is used to show that the emerging price pressure on the former monopolists depends on the extent of the current heterogeneity between OSS and the proprietary software of the incumbents. The paper argues that the product heterogeneity can explain the differing real-world behavior of commercial software producers.     

Rallying competencies in virtual communities: A study of core processes and user interest in open source software projects

Managing work practices has become one of the key challenges facing virtual communities. This paper seeks to broaden the research on virtual communities by applying the theory of competency rallying (TCR) in a longitudinal manner to examine the impact of task identification, task assignment, task execution and task management on user interest in open source software (OSS) projects defined by popularity and communication. The aim of this paper is: (1) re-conceptualizing the concept of user interest and broadening our understanding of user interest by incorporating users' post-usage behaviors, (2) examining the effect of various tasks involved in an OSS project's key processes of defect-fixing and feature-enhancement on user interest. The current study found that project popularity is positively influenced by task assignment, task execution and task management. Additionally, user communication was found to be positively impacted by task identification and task execution. The data collected from 1178 OSS projects in a longitudinal manner (at 3 time points over a period of 16 months) confirmed the expectations from TCR and also demonstrated that over time the effects that development of competencies and managing short term cooperative work have on project success might increase, while the impact of identifying market needs and marshalling competencies may not significantly change.     

Keeping the family together: Sustainability and modularity in community source development

Community-based open source software development (“community source”) is an approach that leverages selected strengths of both the commercial and open source software development. The community source approach centers on the formation of formal communities among institutions based on principles of shared investment and collaborative action to achieve mutually-desired goals. However, as with ordinary open source projects, sustainability can be a significant challenge as development communities grow and evolve. In the present study, we explore the opportunities and challenges to the community source approach through a longitudinal study of a real world community source project, Kuali. Specifically, we apply the principles of modular systems design and design structure matrix modeling to achieve an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms for sustainability in collaborative systems development. In so doing, we introduce a quantitative measure of architectural modularity within an inter-organizational structure. A number of implications are presented for the conduct of research on community source development as well as the design of collaborative communities more broadly defined.     

图形嵌入组态软件的设计与开发

文章介绍了一款图形嵌入组态软件(SYLDCS),该软件包含组态环境、模拟调试环境以及运行环境,其中,组态环境主要用于实现对工程的组态,调试环境实现对工程的在线调试及离线仿真,运行环境为工程调试提供硬件平台,并可以通过与工程相结合而脱离组态及调试环境独立运行。利用该软件组态的工程已成功应用到泵车、起重机及挖机等产品中。     

Balancing on a tightrope: Managing the boundaries of a firm-sponsored OSS community and its impact on innovation and absorptive capacity

Realizing the innovation potential of OSS communities, firms now create or sponsor their own open source software (OSS) communities, generally as part of an open innovation strategy. However, maximizing the innovation capability of a sponsored OSS community is a challenging task since firms cannot rely on traditional hierarchical authority to control community members. Furthermore, a firm's efforts to manage its sponsored community may also impact the firm's absorptive capacity, or its ability to effectively absorb and leverage the valuable knowledge created by the community. Thus, the purpose of this article is to investigate two research questions: 1) How does the boundary management of a firm-sponsored OSS community impact the community's innovation capacity? and 2) How does the boundary management of a firm-sponsored OSS community impact the firm's absorptive capacity? Using the results from our qualitative analysis of eZ Systems and its successfully sponsored OSS community – eZ Publish – we develop a theoretical model depicting how the boundary management of a firm-sponsored OSS community influences both the community's innovation capacity and the absorptive capacity of the firm. In addition, the results of our study highlight the central importance of an integrative IT platform in boundary management activities.     

Open Source Software Production,Spontaneous Input,and Organizational Learning

This work shows that the modular organization of voluntary open source software (OSS) production, whereby programmers supply effort of their accord, capitalizes more on division than on specialization of labor. This is so because voluntary OSS production is characterized by an organizational learning process that dominates the individual one. Organizational learning reveals production choices that would otherwise remain unknown, thereby increasing productivity and indirectly reinforcing incentives to undertake collective problem solving.     

A process approach to understanding multiple open source innovation contests – Assessing the contest structures,execution, and participant responses in the android developer challenges

As organizations recognize the importance of open innovation, understanding emerging mechanisms for soliciting outside participation is a growing area of academic interest. Strategies can be as diverse as hosting innovation contests, sponsoring open source software (OSS) communities, or engaging in bilateral partnerships. While these have been studied as distinct strategies, more recent work has identified the possibility for combining these approaches, or deploying different methods at different times. Because each of these open innovation strategies are characterized by different incentive systems as well as different work and social practices, the combination of these can reveal unexpected participant responses (e.g., collaboration in innovation contests, competitive behavior in OSS communities). This study examines an explicit attempt to combine these strategies, to host an open source innovation contest. Through the case of Google's Android Developer Challenge, a series of multi-million dollar innovation contests used to launch an OSS community over several years, this study utilized a process approach to understanding open source innovation contests to understand how participants responded and also how the contest conditions changed over time. We found several practices of competition and collaboration that worked around the short term and long term incentives and constraints posed by the contest. We also followed the contest through various transition phases and found that participants reacted strongly to changes in structure, execution, and shifting conditions over time. Through this case, we extend our understanding of innovation contests as a process and specifically the promises and pitfalls of open source innovation contests.     

When Does University Research Get Commercialized? Creating Ambidexterity in Research Institutions

We examine the tensions that make it difficult for a research‐oriented university to achieve commercial outcomes. Building on the organizational ambidexterity literature, we specify the nature of the tensions (between academic and commercially‐oriented activities) at both organizational and individual levels of analysis, and how these can be resolved. We develop hypotheses linking specific aspects of the organization and the individual researcher to the likelihood of their research projects generating commercial outcomes, and we test them using a novel dataset of 207 Research Council‐funded projects, combining objective data on project outcomes with the perceptions of principal investigators. We show that the tension between academic and commercial demands is more salient at the level of the individual researcher than at the level of the organization. Universities show evidence that they are able to manage the tensions between academic and commercial demands, through for example their creation of ‘dual structures’. At the individual level, on the other hand, the tensions are more acute, so that the people who deliver commercial outcomes tend to be rather different to those who are accustomed to producing academic outcomes.     

How Project Manager–Project Owner Interaction Can Work Within and Influence Project Risk Management

Inherent interest conflicts between a project management team and project owner are often neglected in project risk management. Risk management by the project management team basically focuses on project short‐term survival, or project success toward handover to the customer, while for the project owner, strategic success should be more important. To see how this takes place in and influences real projects, seven large projects were studied, and interaction in project risk management between the project owners and project management team was examined for each project. The study revealed that the main focus in the studied projects was on operational risks, even within the project owner's set of high‐priority risks.     

Autonomy and teamwork in innovative projects

The use of teams that incorporate autonomy in their designs continues to be an important element of many organizations. However, prior research has emphasized projects with mostly routine tasks and has assumed that autonomy resides primarily with a team leader. We investigate how two aspects of team autonomy are related to teamwork quality, a multifaceted indicator of team collaboration (Hoegl & Gemuenden, 2001). Specifically, we hypothesize that team‐external influence over operational project decisions is negatively related to teamwork quality, while team‐internal equality of influence over project decisions is positively related to teamwork quality. Testing our hypotheses on responses from 430 team members and team leaders pertaining to 145 software development teams, results support both predictions. Acknowledging the possible benefits of certain types of external influence (e.g., constructive feedback), the findings demonstrate that team‐external managers of innovative projects should generally refrain from interfering in team‐internal operational decisions. Likewise, the study shows that all team members should share decision authority, recognizing that their contributions to team discussion and decision making may well differ given differences in experience and expertise. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Understanding project champions’ ability to gain intra-organizational commitment for environmental projects

A key enabler of environmental projects is the ability of the project champion to gain commitment to the project from other stakeholders in his or her organization. This paper develops a model of commitment-gaining success that is based on intra-organizational influence theory. The model also includes project payback, customer pressure, government regulation, top management support and the project champion's position in the organizational hierarchy. The model was tested using survey data from 241 environmental professionals describing their attempts to gain the buy-in of purchasing managers, operations managers, industrial engineers and others for environmental projects. The results (obtained from hierarchical regression analysis) show that intra-organizational commitment is positively associated with the project champion's influence behavior—in particular, the champion's use of three influence tactics (inspirational appeals, consultation and rational persuasion) and avoidance of a fourth tactic (ingratiation). Commitment is also positively associated with project payback and with top management support for the environment and negatively associated with environmental regulation. The paper contributes to the OM knowledge base on environmental project implementation by bringing new theory to bear on the topic, by focusing on individual-level, rather than organization-level, variables and by taking a confirmatory, large sample approach which complements extant exploratory research. In addition, the paper contributes to the OM field by evaluating various antecedents to cross-functional integration. The results also provide specific guidance to those who champion environmental projects within their companies.     

Coordination artifacts in Agile Software Development

Agile Software Development is characterized by collaborative social interactions and fast-paced and iterative changes in project requirements. Much of the extant Agile development literature focuses on team and organizational aspects of Agile development projects. However, coordination mechanisms used within Agile projects have received less attention. Particularly, existing research lacks a discussion on how artifacts are applied in Agile software development to support project coordination, and how their potential for information richness and mutability impact their ability to support coordination.To address these issues, we conducted a case study of an Agile development project that involved customer and vendor organizations. Our case follows the interactions between the two organizations, identifies the different types of artifacts that they utilized to coordinate their joint activities throughout the various phases of the project, and traces the enactment of these artifacts' informational potential.Our study reveals that the organizations applied four different types of coordination artifacts - Foundational, Projective, Exposition and Indicative artifacts – to address different coordination challenges that arose throughout the project. The four types of artifacts were characterized by varying levels of information richness and mutability, which were shaped to support the Agile activities within which they were used.Our study enriches the understanding of the role of coordination artifacts in Agile projects, provides insights on the informational potential of the artifacts, and highlights some of the pitfalls than can result from misunderstanding object use.     

论建筑工程施工质量管理工作重点

建筑工程施工质量是保障工程项目投资方经济利益的关键、是保障建筑工程使用者生命财产的关键。建筑工程施工质量控制与管理工作的科学开展有助于企业减少由于质量问题造成的成本增加,保障企业的经济利益。现代建筑工程施工企业如何进行施工质量管理工作,如何提高施工质量已经成为施工企业各项管理工作的关键,成为施工企业面临的首要问题。文中对建筑工程施工质量管理工作重点及实施注意事项等进行了简要论述。     

柔性系统开发项目需求模型研究

在系统开发项目中,需求偏差一直是项目失败的主要因素。文章通过对F公司系统开发实践、PMI、6σ和柔性等相关知识与工具的研究,构建了一个基于用户的柔性系统开发项目需求模型,用于指导企业系统需求开发,提升项目成功率。     

Project management priorities and the link with performance management systems

This paper reports the results of a project management practices study in the U.K. social housing sector. A five‐factor model of project priorities is established, comprising traditional measures of project cost, time, and quality, in combination with a need to focus on stakeholders and to develop a customer and project team orientation. This model supports and integrates previously fragmented notions of project performance measurement. The relationship between these five project management criteria and the effectiveness and use of a performance management system (PMS) is then explored, with some limited evidence found that PMS effectiveness is an antecedent to practices that focus on the customer, the project team members, and other stakeholders     

房建土建工程中的高支模施工技术探讨

我国国民经济不断增长,对住宅和商用建筑提出了更高要求.在这种背景下,房建工程不断发展,建设标准逐渐完善,但土建施工难度也在增加.高模板支撑系统施工技术已成为房屋建筑工程土建施工现场的一项关键施工工艺,运用高大模板支撑系统施工技术,要注重设计方案、安装、工程验收、拆卸等重要环节,加强安全和品质管理方面工作,提升工程施工技...     

Projecting the number of new AIDS cases in the United States

"This paper reviews the two leading methods used to project the number of AIDS cases: back calculation and extrapolation. These methods are assessed in light of key features of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and of data on the epidemic; they are also assessed in terms of the quality of the projections they yield. Our analysis shows that both methods have tended to overproject, often by sizable amounts, the number of AIDS cases in the United States....A new method for projecting AIDS cases is proposed that exploits knowledge about the process generating AIDS cases and that incorporates readily available information about rates of new HIV infection....Relative to the method of extrapolation, this method projects 22,000 fewer new AIDS cases for 1995 (a 36% difference). This method also projects that intravenous drug users will replace homosexual/bisexual men as the dominant transmission category for AIDS."     

Impact of organizational and project factors on acceptance and usage of project management software and perceived project success

This study surveyed 497 participants to determine the factors that affect project professionals' acceptance of project management software and the perceived impact of software usage on their performance. The study finds that greater information quality and higher project complexity are the dominant factors explaining higher levels of system utilization, that greater system functionality and ease of use have a significant positive relationship with increased software usage, and that a strong positive relationship exists between higher usage of project management software and perceived project managers' improved performance. Inconsistent with prior research, more training was not found to be associated with project management software usage. The study explains more than 40% of the variation in project management software acceptance and adds project management software usage to project success factors by empirically confirming for the first time that project management software enhances project professionals' perceived performance and provides a positive impact on the results of their projects. The study provides practical implications for project professionals, their organizations, senior management, decision makers, software developers, and vendors. These findings support the call for further research that investigates the diffusion of information technologies in the project management field and their impact on project success and competitive position.