scholarly journals Knowledge management in small software development organisations: A South African perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mzwandile M. Shongwe
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Software Process Improvement ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Organisational Routines ◽  
Software Development Methodologies ◽  
Knowledge Intensive

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.

Knowledge Management and Quality Control in Software Outsourcing Projects

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 31-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajorshi Sen Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Lump Sum

This article describes how entrepreneurs face critical risks in terms of quality control and knowledge management while outsourcing software development to independent service providers. First, it is recommended that lump-sum payment contracts should be avoided since software development project involves uncertainty. Instead, a variable payment contingent on observed quality can induce the service provider to exert optimal effort on the project. Second, entrepreneurs must not overlook the importance of providing economic incentives. They can protect their intellectual property by withholding critical knowledge and paying information rents in terms of higher than market wages to the service providers. Third, a startling result is that a low wage nation is not necessarily the optimal location to outsource software development projects. Thus, high wage-strong IPR nations might be chosen instead of low wage-weak IPR nations. Finally, the article explains the apparent paradox that software projects are often outsourced to locations that are characterized by weak intellectual property rights regime and high propensity of imitation.

Software Project Managers under the Team Software Process

2012 ◽  
pp. 115-126
Author(s):  
Marcos Ruano-Mayoral ◽  
Ricardo Colomo-Palacios ◽  
Ángel García-Crespo ◽  
Juan Miguel Gómez-Berbís
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Software Process ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Software Project ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Team Software Process ◽  
Definition Of

Despite the clear relevance of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) market in world economics and the evident lack of success of software projects, organizations devote little effort to the development and maturity of the software project manager profession. This work analyzes the figure of project manager from the perspective of the Team Software Process (TSP), and it considers the required skills, attitudes and knowledge for a software development project. The basis for the study is the analysis of relevant references from the literature for their subsequent categorization into different competency concepts. The results of the analysis are compared with the contributions which the Guide to the SWEBOK® and the PMBOK® Guide models provide of the profiles of the project manager. The results indicate that the literature relating to the Team Software Process is focused on the definitions of skills and attitudes, and to a lesser extent on knowledge components. The lack of the definition of the components which comprise competency constitutes a challenge for software development organizations that use TSP, whose project managers should confront the task with full capacities, and without the help of established and recognized competencies. The current work attempts to establish the competencies for project managers identified in the literature, in the environment of the use of TSP for software development, using a study based on content analysis.

scholarly journals ROI Estimation in a Scrum Project: A case study

10.29007/nqq6 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Cortés ◽  
Fulvio Lizano
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Software Project ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Financial Metrics

Financial metrics are necessary to inform decisions about the beginning or continuity of a software development project to justify investments. This research discuses initial ROI (Return on Investment) estimates in a software project using Scrum and how to analyze variations in the initial calculations to make return on investment decisions during partial deliveries of the product. The case study included a survey, a review of documentation, two focus group sessions, and an exercise involving application of the proposed technique. Twenty-four professionals participated, of which 4 were Scrum trainers (17%), 4 were officials of the company where the estimation technique was applied (17%), and 16 were project managers of domestic and foreign software development companies (66%), all of whom had experience in project management. This study provides elements to be considered in future research on ROI calculation in projects using Scrum, and can be used as a guide to estimate and review financial metrics during the execution of an actual project.

Software Development Knowledge Management System Using Web Portal

2021 ◽  
pp. 92-118
Author(s):  
Kamalendu Pal ◽  
Idongesit Williams
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
System Design ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Global Software Development ◽  
Web Portal ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Collaborative Knowledge

Software development is a knowledge-intensive practice. Software development teams rely on human resources and systematic approaches to share knowledge on system design. This collaborative knowledge sharing and preserving mechanism is known as “knowledge management” in software industries. In the software development process, coordination of system design functionalities requires knowledge-sharing infrastructure within the team members. Semantic web service computing (SWSC) provides opportunities and value-added service capabilities that global software development team requires to exchange information. This chapter describes the features of an ontology-based web portal framework, called CKIA (Collaborative Knowledge Integration Architecture), for integrating distributed knowledge in a global software development project. The CKIA framework uses a hybrid knowledge-based system consisting of Structural Case-Based Reasoning (S-CBR), Rule-Based Reasoning(RBR), and an ontology-based concept similarity assessment mechanism. A business scenario is used to present some functionalities of the framework.

Knowledge Management and Quality Control in Software Outsourcing Projects

2022 ◽  
pp. 1484-1510
Author(s):  
Rajorshi Sen Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Critical Knowledge

This article describes how entrepreneurs face critical risks in terms of quality control and knowledge management while outsourcing software development to independent service providers. First, it is recommended that lump-sum payment contracts should be avoided since software development project involves uncertainty. Instead, a variable payment contingent on observed quality can induce the service provider to exert optimal effort on the project. Second, entrepreneurs must not overlook the importance of providing economic incentives. They can protect their intellectual property by withholding critical knowledge and paying information rents in terms of higher than market wages to the service providers. Third, a startling result is that a low wage nation is not necessarily the optimal location to outsource software development projects. Thus, high wage-strong IPR nations might be chosen instead of low wage-weak IPR nations. Finally, the article explains the apparent paradox that software projects are often outsourced to locations that are characterized by weak intellectual property rights regime and high propensity of imitation.

Automated Framework for Software Process Model Selection Based on Soft Computing Approach

2017 ◽  
pp. 395-418
Author(s):  
Swati Dhingra ◽  
Mythili Thirugnanam ◽  
Poorvi Dodwad ◽  
Meghna Madan
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Model Selection ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Software Project ◽  
Rule Engine ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Software Companies

Software engineering is an engineering approach for software development. It is a discipline whose aim is the production of fault-free, delivered on-time and within budget software that satisfies the user's needs. Software engineering principles need to be followed to ensure a successful software development project. Within organizations that are involved in software development, the challenge is to select the appropriate process model for the software project. The objective of this chapter is to determine the factors which influence the process model selection. This chapter presents an automated framework for selection of process model using fuzzy-based rule engine and to bring more accuracy for choice of process model, J-48 decision tree was used considering factors as inputs. The user has to give characteristic value of the prioritized factor as input and on the basis of the rules, model is anticipated. The developed framework will be profitable for project managers, experts and venture pioneers in software companies.

Automated Framework for Software Process Model Selection Based on Soft Computing Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 1367-1390
Author(s):  
Swati Dhingra ◽  
Mythili Thirugnanam ◽  
Poorvi Dodwad ◽  
Meghna Madan
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Model Selection ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Software Project ◽  
Rule Engine ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Software Companies

Software engineering is an engineering approach for software development. It is a discipline whose aim is the production of fault-free, delivered on-time and within budget software that satisfies the user's needs. Software engineering principles need to be followed to ensure a successful software development project. Within organizations that are involved in software development, the challenge is to select the appropriate process model for the software project. The objective of this chapter is to determine the factors which influence the process model selection. This chapter presents an automated framework for selection of process model using fuzzy-based rule engine and to bring more accuracy for choice of process model, J-48 decision tree was used considering factors as inputs. The user has to give characteristic value of the prioritized factor as input and on the basis of the rules, model is anticipated. The developed framework will be profitable for project managers, experts and venture pioneers in software companies.

Understanding the Role of Knowledge Management in Software Development

2017 ◽  
pp. 485-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory V. O'Connor ◽  
Shuib Basri
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Software Process Improvement ◽  
Management Process ◽  
Software Development Process ◽  
Software Companies ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Knowledge Intensive

Software and systems engineering is distinct from other forms of engineering as it deals with an intangible product, where the progress in construction is not explicitly visible and team members often rely on the documentation of others to follow and review progress. Furthermore unlike traditional engineering disciplines, there is no single standardized unified process. The role of knowledge management in the software engineering literature is becoming more evident, as the software development activity is essentially a human knowledge intensive activity and is seen by many as a key factor. This paper discusses the role of software development knowledge management within software development process and specifically how software development knowledge is managed in software development in order to support software process improvement and the role of knowledge management in this. The authors present the results of a study of knowledge management process practices in very small software companies and discusses these under the major identified issues of: Communication; Learning and sharing; Documentation and Knowledge management process and commitment. The findings in this study give an insight towards knowledge management practices as they relate to software development process practices in very small companies and the important factors that must be considered to preserve knowledge and quality software.

Software Project Managers under the Team Software Process

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Ruano-Mayoral ◽  
Ricardo Colomo-Palacios ◽  
Ángel García-Crespo ◽  
Juan Miguel Gómez-Berbís
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Software Process ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Software Project ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Team Software Process

Despite the clear relevance of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) market in world economics and the evident lack of success of software projects, organizations devote little effort to the development and maturity of the software project manager profession. This work analyzes the figure of project manager from the perspective of the Team Software Process (TSP), and it considers the required skills, attitudes and knowledge for a software development project. The basis for the study is the analysis of relevant references from the literature for their subsequent categorization into different competency concepts. The results of the analysis are compared with the contributions which the Guide to the SWEBOK® and the PMBOK® Guide models provide of the profiles of the project manager. The results indicate that the literature relating to the Team Software Process is focused on the definitions of skills and attitudes, and to a lesser extent on knowledge components. The lack of the definition of the components which comprise competency constitutes a challenge for software development organizations that use TSP, whose project managers should confront the task with full capacities, and without the help of established and recognized competencies. The current work attempts to establish the competencies for project managers identified in the literature, in the environment of the use of TSP for software development, using a study based on content analysis.

scholarly journals Model for Managing Software Development Projects by Fixing Some of the Six Project Management Constraints

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Todorović ◽  
Miroslav Matić
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Technology Project ◽  
Information Technology Project

This study is focused on the software development process, viewed from perspective of information technology project manager. Main goal of this research is to identify challenges in managing such projects and provide a model for delivering software solutions that satisfies client’s expectations. Project management theory describes six constraints or variables in every project, which project managers can use to better control the project and its outputs. Fixing some of the six project management constraints (scope, cost, time, risks, resources or quality) will allow project manager to focus on most important project aspects, rather than being drawn between all of the variables.This paper is aimed at information technology project managers and portfolio managers, as it describes the practical application of this model on a software development project. Findings of this research support the theory that, by applying good project management practice and focusing on project/business-critical requirements, will enable project managers to complete projects successfully and within tolerance limits. Results show that by identifying key business constraints, project managers can create good balance of six constraints and focus on the most important ones, while allowing other constraints to move between limits imposed by clients and stakeholders.

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