When building software, whether we realize it or not, we embed various kinds of knowledge into it. Software engineers doing requirements gathering and domain analysis have realized this, as have programming language researchers when they advocate for domain-specific languages. Thus it is wise to look more broadly at knowledge capture and, inevitably, knowledge management.

Unsurprisingly in this so-called “knowledge economy,” this has also been an issue for businesses, and a new field was born. The field is maturing, and so here we have a third edition of a textbook on the topic. The content is very well organized: every chapter contains learning objectives, strategic implications, key points, discussion points, notes, and references. The topics of each chapter seem well chosen, and the analysis thorough. The third edition has been edited throughout, and a new chapter added. Leafing through each chapter’s references, a reasonable number are from post-2009 (the date of the second edition)--evidence of revisions in each part.

The main drawback for me is that the text is so clearly aimed at knowledge management in corporations. This is not the book’s fault, merely a reflection that computer scientists and software engineers approach the topic differently. Shifting gears to accept this design decision, the book becomes enlightening. It is not an easy read: skimming it will not be very informative. This is a book that really needs to be read, and probably even studied. But if readers are willing to really dig in, they will be rewarded with a wealth of information that has been thoroughly analyzed and reassembled into a pedagogically sound, coherent whole.

More reviews about this item: Amazon, Goodreads