Abstract
Distributed innovation systems have emerged as a robust organizational form
co-existing with centralized models of innovation and product development. The
success of Open Source Software (OSS) communities has brought this problem
solving model to general attention, but it is rapidly taking hold in industries
as diverse as custom integrated circuits, extreme sports equipment,
biotechnology, music and software development. This paper examines how
participants in a core-periphery structure jointly innovate over a one year
period of software development in the PostgreSQL database software community. I
find that members at the periphery – those outside of the core project team –
are responsible for developing a majority of functionally novel software
features. In contrast, core members develop performance-related features.
Peripheral members also initiate the majority of the development activity and
provide critical input into the technical problem solving processes. I also show
how core and peripheral community members jointly enact work practices that
enables decentralized problem solving, self-selected participation and emergent
coordination.