The Role of Objects in the Coordination of Knowledge-Intensive Projects: A Study of Computer Games Development

This paper addresses the role of objects in enabling the coordination of highly knowledge-intensive projects. An empirical study of project work in the computer games sector explored the role played by milestone schedules. We found that such objects played a central role in coordination in several related ways which could not be explained in terms of previous theorizing. First, such objects exhibited a capacity to act as a meta-object; i.e. representing and inter-relating other objects. Second, through their narrative quality, these objects were critical to collaborating groups´ ability to respond to the emergent features of project work. Third, by representing the practices of different groups temporally, these objects made them more accountable to management control.