John A. van der Poll

Accommodating Soft Skills in Software Project Management

Introduction Information Technology (IT) project management (software project management) is a sector that has arguably witnessed the highest rate of project failure in the world. Dorsey (2000) pointed out that large information systems projects have been reported to be subject to failure rates between 50-80% and Bupa (2005) stated that according to a recent report by the Standish Group, only one in three IT projects were delivered on time, within budget and according to specification. This is also confirmed by the CHAOS report (The Standish Group, 2001), which is published annually. This is generally not the case with project management concerned with other disciplines due to better management of inherent strengths and weaknesses. IT projects, particularly those of a software nature, have different strengths and weaknesses as compared to traditional engineering projects (Sukhoo, Barnard, Eloff & Van der Poll, 2004a). For instance, some strengths associated with software projects include flexibility, ease of creating backups, scalability, replication and reusability of components while some weaknesses include invisibility, complexity, difficulty to add people to delayed projects and the need for regular upgrades. However, hard skills remain the traditional main focus of most IT project management methodologies. Hard skills, often described as a science (Belzer, 2004), comprise processes, tools and techniques applied to projects. In managing software projects, tools and techniques related to hard skills are given much attention in an attempt to drive projects towards success. Unfortunately, we find that many software projects do not live up to expectations. Soft skills, often described as an art (Belzer, 2004), have been identified as critical for project success. They are often concerned with managing and working with people (Kirsch, 2004). These skills are typically acquired through experience (Belzer, 2004). Companies, like Mastek, Polaris and Sun Microsystems, being conscious of the importance of soft skills, have incorporated such skills into their training agenda (Arora, 2003). This paper presents the soft skills that can possibly lead to an improvement of the success rate of software projects. These software projects, if not managed properly can lead to an escalation of budget and time schedules beyond expectations. Deterioration of quality may be inevitable while deploying efforts to deal with cost overruns and schedule extensions. Motivation for this Research Every year, the CHAOS chronicle (see for example The Standish Group, 2001) reports on the failure rate of IT projects in the USA. Although there was an observed decline in the percentage of failed projects in the USA since 1994 as summarized by Sonnekus and Labuschagne (2004), the same trend may not have been observed in other countries, especially those with a developing economy. Developed countries like the UK and USA are facing an advantageous situation with the use of welladapted methodologies, tools and techniques through rigorous research and development initiatives both from academia as well as from professional bodies like the Project Management Institute (PMI) and Office of Government Commerce (OGC). According to a survey carried out by Sonnekus and Labuschagne (2004), the failure rate of IT projects in South Africa was found to be 22%, which can be observed to be comparable to that of the CHAOS chronicle released in 2000 (see Table 1). Following a survey carried out in 2003 in Mauritius (Sukhoo, Barnard, Eloff & Van der Poll, 2004b), at least 50% of software projects that suffered due to deadline problem, budget overruns and quality problems were found to be 50%, 30% and 10% respectively. In contrast, traditional engineering projects generally achieve much higher success rates. This is due to exploitation of inherent strengths and prudent management of weaknesses associated with engineering projects that are different from those of software projects (Sukhoo, Barnard, Eloff & Van der Poll, 2004a). …

Towards a Methodology to Elicit Tacit Domain Knowledge from Users

This paper seeks to address a problem ubiquitous in many software development environments today, namely, building software from requirements that are incomplete and not fully understood, thereby creating products that are either faulty or ultimately not being used at all. This gap that exists between software engineers and clients is highlighted in this paper and suggestions on how to overcome the identified gap are presented. The proposed methodology is to introduce developers into the client’s environment, which can be more time consuming and more resource intensive than traditional knowledge elicitation methods, but has the potential to satisfy more of a user’s needs in the long run. It also does not seek to replace any of the existing elicitation methods; rather it is complementary to knowledge elicitation techniques currently used by software engineers as well as to enhance current understanding of such processes.

An Evolutionary Software Project Management Maturity Model for Mauritius

Software project management is a relatively recent discipline that emerged during the second half of the 20 century (Kwak, 2003). Many of the software project management methodologies available today were developed in Western/European countries and research showed that there was a need to formalise a software project management framework for developing countries, in particular Africa (Muriithi & Crawford, 2003). Based on surveys and discussions with software professionals, a methodology for software project management is being proposed. The methodology is based on a maturity model as Mauritius is faced with a shortage in skilled professionals. So far, few organisations in Mauritius have been found to be using software project management methodologies developed in Western/European countries. Most maturity models, for example Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and Kerzner’s maturity model, have five maturity levels. The trend is towards the development of maturity models that have fewer maturity levels. For example, the Organisational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) and Prince 2 Maturity Model have been developed with three maturity levels. Similarly, the proposed Evolutionary Software Project Management Maturity Model (ESPM) has three maturity levels and a continuous process improvement group of key process areas (KPAs). ISO 9001:2000 is chosen as the quality management system and each KPA is mapped onto the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. The model is conceptually represented as a conical structure to better display the evolutionary development of KPAs. KPAs, which are focus areas to be considered for project management, are developed until they attain maturity at a certain level. As organisations have to be responsive to their environments, these KPAs may require further changes even after they have reached maturity. A continuous process group of KPAs helps in adapting to changes in environment. In order to test the proposed methodology, one case study has been included. The application of the methodology to the project could not be discussed in detail in this paper. The development of KPAs in an organisation takes time and the case study was only a snapshot of the application of the methodology. Material published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as credit is given. To copy in all other cases or to republish or to post on a server or to redistribute to lists requires specific permission and payment of a fee. Contact Publisher@InformingScience.org to request redistribution permission. Software Project Management Maturity Model 100

HCI pattern semantics in XML: a pragmatic approach

User interface design is a multidisciplinary field at the crossroads between software engineering, computer science, psychology and cognitive science. HCI pattern writers focus on usability and human aspects of the interface. They use elaborate narrative formats to convey theories and practices of interaction design. Pattern users are typically software developers who need concise and pragmatic guidance of when and how patterns can be used. Narrative descriptions make it difficult to integrate patterns into design (CASE) tools. In this paper, we discuss how patterns can be represented in XML to effectively support their dissemination and assimilation in a programmable environment.

Planning as model checking: the performance of ProB vs NuSMV

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Measuring Method Complexity of the Case Management Modeling and Notation (CMMN)

In 2014, the Object Management Group (OMG) published the Case Management Modeling and Notation (CMMN) version 1.0 specification, which is a new process modeling specification to complement its Business Process Modeling and Notation (BPMN) specification. The declarative nature of CMMN is intended to supplement the procedural perspective of BPMN. CMMN takes a data-centric view to process modeling based on business artifacts to provide flexibility for knowledge workers, while retaining the advantages of business process management (BPM) systems. As far as the researchers are aware, this research is among the first contributions to the understanding of CMMNs method complexity in the context of other process modeling notations. We used the meta-model-based method complexity approach introduced by Rossi and Brinkkemper to evaluate the method complexity of CMMN. The results were compared with other popular process methods, including BPMN, Unified Modeling Language (UML) Activity diagrams, and Event-driven Process Charts (EPC), all of which have undergone similar evaluations by other researchers. The initial results indicated that CMMN 1.0 compares favorably with BPMN 1.2.

Towards a framework for decision making regarding IT adoption

Information Technology (IT) adoption challenges facing organizations are too complex to be resolved using only one methodology. Most existing Information Technology (IT) adoption models such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) only consider individual behaviour and views on technology adoption, without providing mechanisms to accommodate multiple stakeholder perspectives in an organization. In this paper we propose an IT adoption framework, expected to assist an organization in resolving problem situations from multiple perspectives. Our framework provides mechanisms for addressing conflict of interest among stakeholders, which is rather common with IT adoption in organizations.

A virtual integrated network emulator on XEN (viNEX)

The recent progress on virtualization technologies has made it possible to deploy multiple hosts instances with operating systems running real network protocol stacks on one single server. The objective of this paper is to explore whether it is feasible to use such environments for network emulation and simulation. Some significant amount of research is taking place in this area, this includes Emulab [6] virtualization, and IMUNES [12] system. Both Emulab and IMUNES are based on FreeBSD Jails. Very little is known about using traditional virtualization platforms (such as Xen and VMware) for virtual emulators. As part of our research, we will attempt to develop a virtual emulator (viNEX) based on Xen. Having identified the limits and weaknesses of this approach, we also propose some areas where viNEX can be useful.

Soft Skills for Software Project Team Members

Software development usually occurs in the context of software project management (SPM). An often cited challenge in the area of software project management is the high failure rate of software development projects (SPDs). One of the factors contributing to the failure of SDPs is the lack of soft issues, also known as soft skills or human aspects. The main purpose of this research was to identify and categorise the soft skills that facilitate the delivery of successful SDPs. To this end a survey was conducted in the form of a questionnaire as the research instrument. The results of the survey underwent a quantitative analysis and it was found that a variety of soft skills are important in facilitating the delivery of successful SDPs. Although a wide range of soft skills were identified, not all soft skills can be considered to be of crucial or equal importance. 

E-learning and technologies for open distance learning in Management Accounting

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