Abstract:

This study examines the acquisition of expertise in designing and developing information systems. The aim was to investigate how practical experience is related to contextual and strategic knowledge in problem-solving. Using a combination of expert–novice comparisons and longitudinal methods, professional systems analysts were compared with novices at the beginning and end of a seven month project-based course. The results show that during the course, the novices acquired a good deal of strategic competence in using domain-specific methods. Compared to the novices, the experts showed a more comprehensive and higher level of awareness of clients' contextual constraints. The study demonstrated qualitative variation in the subjects' solutions to design problems. Five distinct solution patterns were found; these appeared to originate mainly from the settings of the subjects' practical work.