Social Networking, 2021, 10, 45-69 https://www.scirp.org/journal/sn ISSN Online: 2169-3323 ISSN Print: 2169-3285 DOI: 10.4236/sn.2021.104004 Oct. 29, 2021 45 Social Networking Dynamics of Knowledge in Software Project Development Environments: An Approach Using Affiliation Networks Jorge Luiz dos Santos 1 , Renelson Ribeiro Sampaio 2 , Hernane Borges de Barros Pereira 2,3 , Marcos Grilo 4 1 Computer Modelling Program, SENAI CIMATEC, Salvador, Brazil 2 SENAI CIMATEC University Center, Salvador, Brazil 3 Bahia State University, Salvador, Brazil 4 State University of Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Brazil Abstract This work presents an approach to study the diffusion of knowledge in soft- ware development project teams based on the formation of complex social network structures in a public organization that offers information and communication technology services. We collected historical data on the allo- cation and records of hours worked by people in projects to build an affilia- tion network. We applied the method of reflections to analyze the data ob- tained. The constructed model enabled the description of the participation of project team members from the perspective of the creation and diffusion of knowledge in affiliation networks that describe the participation of people in projects, mediated by the knowledge and the capabilities developed for the execution of these projects. A contribution of this work is the construction of indicators related to the process of creation and diffusion of knowledge in the context of the execution of software development and maintenance projects, based on the concepts of diversification and ubiquity applied to the process of knowledge diffusion; an additional contribution is the presentation of an ap- plication of the method of reflections in an organizational context applied to the creation and diffusion of knowledge. We found that the application of management models associated with the collaborative method applied to the project development process contributed to the joint growth of diversified and more specialized knowledge alongside the knowledge considered more generic and ubiquitous. Our results show that contrary to previous expecta- tions based on assumptions established at the beginning of the study, we con- cluded that in six of the seven subnetworks obtained in the period between How to cite this paper: dos Santos, J.L., Sampaio, R.R., Pereira, H.B.B. and Grilo, M. (2021) Dynamics of Knowledge in Soft- ware Project Development Environments: An Approach Using Affiliation Networks. Social Networking, 10, 45-69. https://doi.org/10.4236/sn.2021.104004 Received: September 3, 2021 Accepted: October 26, 2021 Published: October 29, 2021 Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access