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Background: Whether a website design is a simple static page of plain text, a complex e-commerce matrix or a progressive web application, the journey is riddled with challenges. In terms of online users, every second counts when interacting with a website. It is estimated that 2 seconds is the acceptable webpage loading latency that users are willing to tolerate before abandoning a webpage. Users expect web applications to be more usable, reliable, secure, personalised and context-aware. Objectives: This study sought to identify the challenges faced and the strategies used during website development, and to then map a conceptual framework to address these challenges. Method: The 7Cs framework was the theoretical framework underpinning the study. Based on qualitative research, 12 website developers were sampled in Gauteng Province, South Africa, using non-probability sampling methods. Results: The 7Cs Website Development Scheme (7CWDS) charted from the research findings shows that the following strategies are essential in overcoming website development challenges: (1) good communication between developer and client, (2) agile planning and acceptance of project scope, (3) creation of website drafts and acceptance, (4) flexible website designs, (5) agile website development using a step-by-step approach, (6) website connections to Google Analytics, (7) connecting website to social media and (8) website cybersecurity scanning and testing. Conclusion: The study developed the 7CWDS as a toolkit that underlines critical strategies to address common challenges in website development, and presents them in a logical hierarchy and order of execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Knowledge is a crucial asset for organisations to gain sustainable competitive advantage. Software development organisations are trying their best to promote teamwork in projects to improve information technology (IT) project success. Team members working in the same projects interact more often to share the progress of their assigned tasks and to share their expertise and experiences for them to deliver the projects successfully within the triple constraints of time, scope and cost. Objectives: This study was undertaken to explore the measuring of knowledge sharing behaviour among software development teams. The study is therefore aimed at measuring the intentions of software development teams in knowledge sharing and how that can affect the success of IT projects. Method: Four software development organisations in South Africa participated successfully in this research study. This is a quantitative research study with a response rate of 53%. Expert sampling was used to get rich data from experts in the field of IT. Data were collected using an online questionnaire. Results: Results have revealed that employee attitudes are the main drivers of knowledge sharing behaviour and employees are not willing to share their knowledge if they are not compensated to do so. It was revealed that knowledge capture is not significant at all and these findings were contradicting with the current literature and further research is required. Conclusion: For organisations to be competitive, it is crucial for them to manage their knowledge effectively. Software development organisations are trying their best to promote teamwork in projects in order to improve IT project success. Project managers can focus on creating reward systems to motivate their project teams to share knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The continued in failure of agile and traditional software development projects have led to the consideration, attention and dispute to critical success factors that are the aspects which are most vital to make a software engineering methodology fruitful. Although there is an increasing variety of critical success factors and methodologies, the conceptual frameworks which have causal relationship are limited. Objective: The objective of this study was to identify and provide insights into the critical success factors that influence the success of software development projects using agile methodologies in South Africa. Method: Quantitative method of collecting data was used. Data were collected in South Africa through a Web-based survey using structured questionnaires. Results: These results show that organisational factors have a great influence on performance expectancy characteristics. Conclusion: The results of this study discovered a comprehensive model that could provide guidelines to the agile community and to the agile professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Software organisations have been experiencing software development failures since the beginning of software development. Globally, latest Standish Group CHAOS reports indicate that only 29% of projects are successful. In South Africa (SA), the ITWeb report (2013) indicates that only 11% of all projects are successful. Intervention strategies such as software process improvement (SPI) frameworks and new software development methodologies such as agile methods have been introduced to address this issue. These intervention strategies do not seem to be effective because software development projects continue to fail. To address this issue, software organisations are turning to knowledge management (KM). This is because software development is a knowledge-intensive task. Objectives: The study aimed to investigate KM practices in small, medium and micro (SMMEs) software development organisations in SA and to determine if KM has benefited the organisations. Method: Fifteen software development project managers from 15 software development SMMEs were interviewed. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: The study found six KM practices in the organisations: knowledge acquisition, creation, storage, sharing, organisation and application. The study found that KM has benefited organisations by making them effective, efficient and productive. Conclusions: The study concluded that software development organisation have adopted KM, although informally, and that KM practices have improved organisational routines and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scrum, a form of agile project management methodology, comes with many benefits derived from the iterative form of software development. Various organisations within South Africa have implemented Scrum within their development teams and are fast receiving positive benefits from it. While Scrum, in many aspects of the methodology, is highly effective and successful within different organisations, there are always going to be pitfalls and negative attributes associated with the adoption and use of a new methodology. The purpose of this research is to determine the factors leading to interruptions in the middle of a sprint while using Scrum. Case studies were conducted which included 3 companies in Johannesburg and Cape Town that have implemented Scrum. In particular, data was collected through the following methods: 12 face-to-face, one-on-one interviews with participating Scrum team members; and 1 group discussion with 8 participating Scrum team members. After analysis, five theoretical statements were formulated pertaining to: poorly understood and defined objectives from clients, management's lack of understanding of Scrum processes, high workload, ad-hoc requests mid-sprint, and low interdepartmental communication. Results from this study reveal the need to conduct possible future research on: ways to prevent these forms of sprint interruption from having negative effects on the Scrum team and the project; and the effect that these interruptions have on the relevant stakeholders involved. The results of the study thus provide managers with the opportunity to take a deeper look into the sources of their Scrum problems and provide them with an understanding as to how they may prevent these interruptions from causing long term, negative effects on the project and the team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]