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    Communication factors in agile software development teams in South Africa
    (2012-10-02) Foster, Juan Edwin
    The objective of this research was to identify the communication factors in agile software development teams in South Africa. There was one research proposition set up from the literature review. A sample of South African agile practitioners was used and the respondents were interviewed using a semi-structured open-ended questionnaire. The results were evaluated using content analysis. The research findings concluded that the communication factors in agile software development teams are goals and objectives, people utilisation and coaching, trust and conflict resolution, leadership and management, documentation, problem solving and decision making process, evaluation and motivation and culture and environment. The research proposition produced another factor which was personalities. The key recommendations include that agile practitioners should use the communication factors from the research in order to improve the flow of communication within the team and to assist them in discovering how to mature in their team dynamics.
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    Improving Bespoke Software
    (2011-04-19) Wade, Sebastian
    Software development has had much comment over the last two to three decades; large research organisations such as the Standish Group have carried out several empirical studies that measure the success rate of software projects as they have typically been unsuccessful over time. An integral part of any software development project is the software estimation process which establishes project scope; within the scope of the project are a number of key parameters which assist in mapping out the entire project. The objective of this research report is to focus on software estimation in South Africa and how software practitioners in the country are approaching the formidable task of software estimation with the aim of improving this process and the number of successful software projects. Bespoke software development is the focus area of software development in the report. The research was conducted by way of one-on-one interviews with software practitioners who had bespoke software development knowledge relative to a certain size project value and experience. The report findings represent the perceptions and viewpoints of the respondents. It was established from the findings that the approach to software estimation in South Africa is largely done on an informal or unstructured basis, that estimation which is done on a more formal basis is done using the expert or experience based technique. The respondents were only able to identify two other forms of estimation, neither of which appears to be used in South Africa. The influence of business interests upon producing the final estimate and price to the customer is powerful and often compromises the objective of the estimate. South African software vendors do however employ the best practice of revising their estimates after inception of the project and are able to manage the uncertainty element of the project more effectively in this way. Given the relative inexperience of the software vendor community in South Africa they were somewhat unaware of the international practice of combining estimation iii techniques even though they agreed that it may be a solution towards improving the estimation process overall. South Africa appears to be uneducated as to the majority of theory and application surrounding the use of various estimation techniques. This fact may simply be because the country is still developing behind first world countries that have already overcome this learning curve and progressed from that point. While there are many experienced software practitioners in South Africa there is no indication of the estimation processes evolving so that software estimation can progress to a more professional, formalised level
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    Productivity measurement
    (2011-04-18) Awuah, Frank
    One of the most important industries in the world today is software development. It has become an essential part of an organisation’s production and management processes. Software development projects are growing larger in size and becoming more complicated and at the same time faster turnaround times are required. Therefore software development teams are expected to be highly productive. Hence measurement of productivity of software development projects has become an aspect of high interest to management. The purpose of the research was to explore the perceptions of and measurements of productivity of software development projects. This included exploring the levels of awareness and understanding of productivity measurement of software development projects among professionals and the practical ways in which productivity is measured. A qualitative research methodology was followed in order to adequately capture the richness of perceptions and levels of understanding, frustrations, challenges and the depth and breadth of the topic. Depth interviews were the instrument used to gather the data. The interview reports were then analysed using content analysis and cognitive mapping. The findings were further discussed with a control group which is made up of a panel of senior experts in the field. There is a high level of productivity awareness among software development professionals. Professionals are conscious about productivity and its continued improvements. However, only a few of the respondents understand and appreciate the contribution that the knowledge and the right application of productivity rate of a development team, for example, has on the success of the project. Among the respondents who understand and appreciate the need of using a productivity rate for accurate project planning and management, function point analysis was the most supported. The proponents of lines of code productivity measurement admit that it is not a perfect measure but simple to use. iii Productivity measurement and the correct application of the outcomes aid in proper project planning, ensures that there is better conformance to project schedule, helps with monitoring and control and intelligent outsourcing, aids in eliciting top management support and ultimately, leading to improved project delivery and project success.