Learning to innovate in distributed mobile application development: Learning episodes from Tehran and London

This paper reports on the activities of an entrepreneurial small software firm, operating in telecoms value-added services based in Tehran, Iran, with project partners in London, UK. Mobile and smart phone applications are altering our professional and social interactions with innovative business models, glocal content and eco-systems, fusing the multifaceted aspects of mobile software development. To analyze these types of activities in the context of rapidly changing catching-up economies, development of mobile applications by entrepreneurial NTBFs, initially imitating as a way to innovate, require distributed up-skilling, rapid problem-solving and pragmatic learning. Specifically, we focus on knowledge brokerage and sourcing activities in distributed Scrums. Drawing on longitudinal analysis of projects [2004-2010], an iterative `learning to innovate´ model, entitled DEAL (Design, Execute, Adjust, Learn) within `project-enhanced learning episodes´, is constructed and outlined utilizing knowledge brokers and boundary sources in enterprise challenges. We conclude by reflecting on distributed learning and skills in practice.