Using Patterns to Capture Tacit Knowledge and Enhance Knowledge Transfer in Virtual Teams

Abstract

The virtual team presents a challenging environment in which to share knowledge. These teams can span time zones, geographies, and even cultures. As a result, storytelling sessions and other two-way communications among team members are frequently unachievable. “Maps” to knowledge experts are useless if these experts cannot be reached at the moment when knowledge is needed. In order to transition knowledge from one virtual team member to another, organizations often resort to sharing knowledge in the form of documents or other types of explicit knowledge. However, explicit knowledge typically lacks the context required to be truly useful to the knowledge consumer. A possible solution to this limitation presents itself from another discipline. Patterns and pattern languages, which have their origin in the field of building architecture and urban design, offer a way to enhance explicit knowledge by capturing the context that is typically missing in documented knowledge and by adding a rich, story-like flavor designed to facilitate knowledge transfer.