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The competition in the software market demands that the time required for any software product to reach the market be reduced if the product is to survive competition from other developers. The pursuit of this goal has led to the adoption of agile software development methodologies. While other agile methodologies provide guidelines as to the software engineering (SE) practices to be used during the development lifecycle, Scrum does not. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to identify the usage and level of importance of software engineering practices in the Scrum development environment; and second, to investigate how Scrum teams adopt an appropriate set of SE techniques and whether a hybrid Scrum/Extreme Programming (XP) methodology is an appropriate approach to take. This research was conducted by examining sample data from five organizations using the Scrum methodology. The sample included a range of industries including communications and embedded systems, financial asset management, software development houses and consulting firms in South Africa. The study employed a mixed method approach. A key finding was that, regardless of the fact that Scrum does not explicitly recommend engineering practices, there was extensive use of these practices by all of the participating organizations. The study also found that the lack of software engineering practices in Scrum does not constitute a barrier to a successful adoption of Scrum, provided the 'inspect and adapt' principle inherent in Scrum is properly followed. The study discusses the findings, explains the implications and suggests future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culture influences how agile frameworks are implemented, and agility is said to be suitable in contexts where flexibility and spontaneity are emphasized. While past studies have investigated the influence of national culture on Agile implementations and practices in Western and Eastern contexts, studies focusing on a South African software development context is limited. Furthermore, few studies have focused on the effect of cultural differences within software engineering in general. The purpose of this study is to describe how national culture influences Agile practices within the South African software development context. In particular, the Hofstede, GLOBE and Schwartz frameworks of national culture were considered. The study was interpretive and was executed using a qualitative, semi-structured interview research strategy directed at Agile practitioners in South African software development teams. The thematic analysis technique was used to analyze the data. Eleven propositions were formulated to highlight how national culture dimensions influence Agile practices. The findings reveal that various national culture dimensions influence the decision-making process, the degree of Sprint interruptions, participation in Agile ceremonies, adherence to policies and prescribed Agile practices, how teams reach agreement, approaches to process improvement and Sprint Planning. The dimensions also influence the extent to which team members are encouraged to have fun and their work-life balance, commitment to achieving Sprint Goals and the sustainable working pace, the Definition of "Done", blocker management, how commitments are made, team cohesion, preparation for and outcomes of Sprint Retrospective, as well as the degree to which the Scrum Master is task-focused or people-focused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve agility in software development, there is a need to ensure that the knowledge generated is seamlessly shared among the teams involved. Different contexts face unique contextual motivators and challenges towards achieving efficient knowledge sharing in software development firms. Overcoming these challenges starts from understanding the contextual nuances at play in the environment, in which knowledge sharing is desired. With increased need for ubiquitous and on-the-go information needs in agile software development projects, understanding the need for effective knowledge sharing platforms is important. The general scarcity of empirical studies has culminated into lack of in-depth global or local insights on knowledge sharing. This research investigates the different contours of knowledge sharing in a software development context in South Africa. Quantitative data collected using a questionnaire with closed-ended questions were analysed using an interpretive and deductive approach. Findings of this research reveal that job security, motivation, time constraints, psychological factors, communication, resistance to change, and rewards are core factors for knowledge sharing in software development projects. Compared with the global context, this research is aligned with other findings with new additions on the grouping of factors influencing knowledge sharing in software development projects. The study discusses the types of knowledge considered useful to share, presents appropriate ways of sharing such useful knowledge and articulates how different types of knowledge are shared in the South African context. This research contributes to the current debate on challenges in knowledge sharing within software development projects in developing world contexts and discusses how software development companies may ensure that triple constraints (time, cost and scope) are overcome. [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]