The role of space and time in balancing conflicting pressures through routine dynamics

• Main Authors: GOH, Kenneth T., RERUP, Claus
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: routines; innovation; product development; temporality; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5998; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6997/viewcontent/The_role_of_space_and_time_in_balancing_conflicting_pressures_through_routine_dynamics.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

To examine how spaces and the temporal context shape routine actions that balance conflicting pressures for efficiency and flexibility, we conducted an ethnography of the product development process, known as the scrum routine, in a video game development studio. We trace the temporal patterning of scrum meetings to reveal the mutual constitution of spaces and the temporal context. Examining how the co-constitution of space and time shapes actions and artifact use in the scrum routine reveals that balancing occurs through coalescing, reconstituting, standardizing, and reorganizing actions. From these findings, we develop a conceptual model of how pressures for efficiency and flexibility are balanced through the co-constitution of space and time. Our findings contribute to calls for more research on the temporality of routine dynamics and how balancing occurs in settings that value the consistent production of novelty, rather than the maintenance of consistency.