A review of Communication Tools and Techniques for Successful ICT Projects

Practitioners have repeatedly mentioned that projects that lack effective communication are doomed to fail. Project communications management involves the generation, collection, and storage of information within a project. Project communication therefore provides vital ingredients for the go-no-go decisions in a project through the effective selection of the minimum essential things that can be done to share the collected information among the stakeholders. A fast growing way to manage software development projects is agile project management, whose focus is balancing between continuous releases of quality deliverables and frequently sharing project progress information. In this editorial, we advocate for research on the approaches, tools, and techniques that are used in agile project management in relation to those used in the more traditional approaches to project management to effectively manage communication in software development projects in Africa. The hope is to bring to surface knowledge on how project management communications is currently being effected, as well as the factors about these communications that are distinctive to this region when contrasted with the rest of the world

Using the PMO to enforce and standardize the attention of software project managers to needs of software project teams

Software project teams (SPTs) are critical stakeholders. Their contribution in successful delivery of software projects is unquestionable. However, the empirical evidence of their importance seems to exist on paper only, as software project managers (SPMs) and scholars in the project management field ignore their individual needs, and as a result, SPTs remain the most neglected stakeholder group in the software industry. In endeavoring to address the neglect of SPTs by SPMs, the authors of this study developed a model aimed at assisting SPMs to pay due consideration to the needs of this important stakeholder group. At the heart of the model’s functionality is the Project Management Office (PMO), which intends to enforce and standardize the gathering and addressing of software project team needs and interests by SPMs. The aim of the research study is to investigate how the functions of the PMO can be applied to operationalize the enforcement and standardization of the overall function of the model. Since the study is practical-oriented, the pragmatic interpretive approach was considered a suitable methodology. Through the interpretative methodology, several appropriate functions of the PMO, such as «Project management methodology, standards, and tooling», «Monitoring and controlling project performance», «Human resource management» and «Development of project management competencies» as established from project management literature were utilized to achieve the study’s purpose. Even though the interpretation process was guided by literature, the inference was also influenced, to a certain extent, by the researcher opinion as «interested observer». Therefore, the approach presents a limitation to the study. Future studies should include the validation of the feasibility of the study’s claim in a real-world project setup

Using the PMO to enforce and standardize the attention of software project managers to needs of software project teams

Software project teams (SPTs) are critical stakeholders. Their contribution in successful delivery of software projects is unquestionable. However, the empirical evidence of their importance seems to exist on paper only, as software project managers (SPMs) and scholars in the project management field ignore their individual needs, and as a result, SPTs remain the most neglected stakeholder group in the software industry. In endeavoring to address the neglect of SPTs by SPMs, the authors of this study developed a model aimed at assisting SPMs to pay due consideration to the needs of this important stakeholder group. At the heart of the model’s functionality is the Project Management Office (PMO), which intends to enforce and standardize the gathering and addressing of software project team needs and interests by SPMs. The aim of the research study is to investigate how the functions of the PMO can be applied to operationalize the enforcement and standardization of the overall function of the model. Since the study is practical-oriented, the pragmatic interpretive approach was considered a suitable methodology. Through the interpretative methodology, several appropriate functions of the PMO, such as «Project management methodology, standards, and tooling», «Monitoring and controlling project performance», «Human resource management» and «Development of project management competencies» as established from project management literature were utilized to achieve the study’s purpose. Even though the interpretation process was guided by literature, the inference was also influenced, to a certain extent, by the researcher opinion as «interested observer». Therefore, the approach presents a limitation to the study. Future studies should include the validation of the feasibility of the study’s claim in a real-world project setup

Investigating South African Vendors’ Cloud Computing Value Proposition to Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises: A Case of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality

While Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) are known to contribute significantly to economic growth and reduction of unemployment worldwide, South Africa experiences high failure rate, stagnation and limited growth of SMMEs. Cloud computing, which promises cost efficiencies for SMMEs through its unique outsourcing based business model, is emerging as a viable solution and an excellent value proposition to SMMEs. This study investigated the value proposition of cloud computing vendors to South African SMMEs. The problems addressed in this research are: - investigating whether the concept of cloud computing and its related key terms are being comprehended by South African SMMEs, - investigating and identifying the cloud computing applications/services that are most valuable and critical to the growth and development of South African SMMEs, - investigating and determining the main influences against adoption of cloud computing by SMMEs. Quantitative research using questionnaires was conducted and the findings of this study inter alia revealed that SMMEs in South Africa do not understand the basic key terms and concepts of cloud computing

A meta-synthesis on the usability of social media blends in e-learning

Distance education has by nature always depended on technology as a vehicle for various media used to facilitate learning. Today as technology has taken centre stage in our lives especially Internet-based technology, distance education continues to grow in its use of state-of-the-art tools and hence the need to effectively adopt these online tools for online education remains inevitable. This study presents an evaluation of the usability of social media blends in e-learning environments. Comprehensive guidelines for improving the usability of social media blends are proposed in order to facilitate learner networks where knowledge can be created that is based on the leaners’ experiences and their peer connections. In this meta-analysis study literature was searched to identify qualitative research articles that discuss social media blends most commonly used in e-learning. The search was done on South African and international academic databases which included SAe-Publications, EbscoHost, ProQuest and Google Scholar, among others. The metadata analysis was conducted following the online collaborative learning theory as a conceptual framework and the findings agreed with previous studies that the use of social media blends still lacks important empirical data. This study recommends a set of phases in designing curriculum for social media use in e-learning. The proposed guidelines should be useful to instructional designers interested in using modern learning theories in e-learning. Since African qualitative research could not be found, further work in this field could involve qualitative studies on the use of e-learning in African institutions.Curriculum and Instructional StudiesM. Ed. (Open and Distance Learning

Student’s Perception on Culture-Oriented e-Learning System: An Empirical Study

Electronic learning (e-learning) platform is fast growing in the Africa educational system and many students are busy enrolling and accepting it as a means for educational advancement and career achievement channel. An e-learning platform handles students across different cultural settings with various perceptions, learning needs and expectations. Nonetheless, incorporating cultural differences, expectations and perceptions as well as managing them, is challenging on the side of e-learning developers. The challenging aspect of the cultural management of e-learning can be attributed to the software crisis which has lasted for decades now with little or no solution to it. This study tries to understand and determine the perception of students on the development of a culture-oriented e-learning system that can allow them to be able to customise it to suit desired features in their home language at all times. The study also determines the factors and components that necessitate the implementation of the culture-oriented e-learning system. This study was carried out using quantitative research method among the students of North-West University, South Africa with a total number of 728 questionnaires collected and analysed. The perception of the involved students was mixed in the sense that some of them preferred to use English language as a medium of learning in e-learning while others would like the e-learning system platform to be designed and developed between their home language and English language. Again, their challenges range from lack of engagement to the inflexible e-learning system leading to the discovering of factors that facilitate culture-oriented e-learning system

Computer usability : interactive challenges faced by less experienced computer users in South Africa

Abstract:The growing use of applications and access to the internet has increased the number of average computer users in South Africa, as people are using applications like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. The goal of the study is to identify the challenges that most South African people face when they are interacting with computer applications, web applications, and mobile applications. The reason for conducting the study is that lately in South Africa we have seen an increase in South Africans who have access to computer systems, such as the use of smartphones, tablets or iPads, game consoles, and laptops. Most of the people who are using these devices or have access to them still face challenges as to how to use these devices or to use some of the applications that come with these devices. The paper will begin by introducing the topic. The paper will be followed by a literature review section, which will include four topics relating to the topic that helped the researcher to build a foundation for the research topic and to get ideas on how to do the research. The paper will then be followed by the research methodology, and the findings of, and discussions flowing from the study will then follow

Using the PMO to enforce and standardize the attention of software project managers to needs of software project teams

Software project teams (SPTs) are critical stakeholders. Their contribution in successful delivery of software projects is unquestionable. However, the empirical evidence of their importance seems to exist on paper only, as software project managers (SPMs) and scholars in the project management field ignore their individual needs, and as a result, SPTs remain the most neglected stakeholder group in the software industry. In endeavoring to address the neglect of SPTs by SPMs, the authors of this study developed a model aimed at assisting SPMs to pay due consideration to the needs of this important stakeholder group. At the heart of the model’s functionality is the Project Management Office (PMO), which intends to enforce and standardize the gathering and addressing of software project team needs and interests by SPMs. The aim of the research study is to investigate how the functions of the PMO can be applied to operationalize the enforcement and standardization of the overall function of the model. Since the study is practical-oriented, the pragmatic interpretive approach was considered a suitable methodology. Through the interpretative methodology, several appropriate functions of the PMO, such as «Project management methodology, standards, and tooling», «Monitoring and controlling project performance», «Human resource management» and «Development of project management competencies» as established from project management literature were utilized to achieve the study’s purpose. Even though the interpretation process was guided by literature, the inference was also influenced, to a certain extent, by the researcher opinion as «interested observer». Therefore, the approach presents a limitation to the study. Future studies should include the validation of the feasibility of the study’s claim in a real-world project setup

Adult first-time user of handheld computer system : challenges

Abstract: Handheld computing systems or devices can be defined as exceptionally portable, independent information management and communication devices. Furthermore, handheld computing systems or devices can be seen as a small or pocket-sized computing device with a touch screen keyboard and input and output interface. According to the definition of handheld computing systems, numerous devices fit the description such as smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and pagers. However, adult first- time users of computer systems face different issues in adopting the device and the literature reviewed shows that most of them have difficulties with the design, such as the touch screen. The negative views of technology devices by adult first-time users can be attributed to the difficulty in adapting to new technology. Weakness, incapacity, distrust of technology, absence of perceived value and trouble in understanding how to utilise the device are largely the main problems observed by adult first-time users of handheld computer systems. However, they could accept the use of the devices provided their needs are taken into consideration by the developers. The limitation of the research was that only adults in the age range of 55 to 91 in Gauteng in South Africa were chosen for this research

SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF IOT METRICS

The Internet of Things (IoT) touches almost every aspect of modern society and has changed the way people live, work, travel and, do business. Because of its importance, it is essential to ensure that an IoT system is performing well, as desired and expected, and that this can be assessed and managed with an adequate set of IoT performance metrics. The aim of this study was to systematically inventory and classifies recent studies that have investigated IoT metrics. We conducted a literature review based on studies published between January 2010 and December 2021 using a set of five research questions (RQs) on the current knowledge bases for IoT metrics. A total of 158 IoT metrics were identified and classified into 12 categories according to the different parts and aspects of an IoT system. To cover the overall performance of an IoT system, the 12 categories were organized into an ontology.  The findings results show that the category of network metrics was the most discussed in 43% of the studies and, with the highest number of metrics at 37%. This study can provide guidelines for researchers and practitioners in selecting metrics for IoT systems and valuable insights into areas for improvement and optimization. &nbsp