ETD Collection

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/104


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    The status of systems engineering in a South African engineering organisation: a survey
    (2019-10-18) Selepe, Bafana Zephania
    The technology advancement of the latter half of the twentieth century and into this century has been the most significant driver of the emergence of Systems Engineering as a critical skill in the development of complex systems. Not only did the advancement of technology affected the products, but, also the manner in which these products are being developed, manufactured, operated, supported and maintained. The challenges confronting many organisations seeking to implement Systems Engineering in their projects are far from trivial. The current practices and culture in most of these organisations often constrain the adoption of Systems Engineering. A survey research was conducted to investigate the status of Systems Engineering at a South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) using one of its business unit, namely Defence, Peace, Safety and Security (DPSS) as a unit of measure. The research instrument for the study was developed based on the international standards and capability maturity models of Systems Engineering, to assess the status of Systems Engineering and to investigate whether an association exist between the status of Systems Engineering and a Competency Area or Job Category at DPSS. The results showed that the majority in the Competency Areas within DPSS utilises the specific practices associated with the technical processes of Systems Engineering in their projects and that there is no association between the status of Systems Engineering and Competency Area or Job Category. However, the study also shows that there is still room for improvement.
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    A quantitative study into the perceived differences in expert judgement on factors that influence software development outcomes
    (2018) Van der Linden, Anthony Cornelis
    Why do some software development initiatives fail while others succeed? In most cases the answers to these questions are based on the perspectives of experts rather than measurement and empirical data collection. Are the views of these experts consistent, or do they differ? This is important because many innovations in software development methodologies are based on a response to the perspectives of different groups of experts. The research presented in this dissertation tests whether different groups of experts had different perspectives on the outcomes of software development projects. The research methodology was guided by a quantitative design using objectivism as an epistemology and positivism as a theoretical framework. It included survey research and to facilitate generalisation of the overall result, collected data from a sample size of 384 participants at a 5% margin of error. The research found that there is a statistically significant difference between experts in various roles and having different levels of experience. It concludes that expert judgement with respect to the outcomes of software development projects contained several cognitive biases and suggests that experts and organisations alike should consider adopting measurement and empirical data collection techniques to evaluate the value of their current practices before injudiciously adopting new methodologies.