Coordinating expertise in software development teams

Like all teams, knowledge teams must acquire and manage critical resources in order to accomplish their work. The most critical resource for knowledge teams is expertise, or specialized skills and knowledge, but the mere pres ence of expertise on a team is insufficient to produce high-quality work. E xpertise must be managed and coordinated in order to leverage its potential . That is, teams must be able to manage their skill and knowledge interdepe ndencies effectively through expertise coordination, which entails knowing where expertise is located, knowing where expertise is needed, and bringing needed expertise to bear. This study investigates the importance of expert ise coordination through a cross-sectional investigation of 69 software dev elopment teams. The analysis reveals that expertise coordination shows a st rong relationship with team performance that remains significant over and a bove team input characteristics, presence of expertise, and administrative coordination.