Browsing by Author "Tanner, Maureen C"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Culture and communication in global software development
    (2007) Tanner, Maureen C; Sewchurran, Kosheek
    Global Software Development (GSD) is a growing sector in Mauritius and South Africa. With a constantly increasing number of IT investors, both countries are gradually being recognised as IT hubs in the Southern African region. They offer advantages like cheap and highly skilled labour, and a good IT infrastructure to support the work. GSD is however not easy to orchestrate. Due mostly to cultural disparities and complex communication settings, this particular software development configuration faces numerous issues. In spite of being rich mediums for investigation, no prior GSD research has to date been performed in Mauritius and South Africa. This research has therefore been undertaken in an attempt to shed light on the intricacies of GSD practices followed by these two countries. The purpose of this study is to explore GSD in the South African and Mauritian context, to understand how different forms of Software Development Practices, Cultural Coping strategies, and Communication Practices are being used to overcome the GSD issues and mediate differing cultural affiliations. In addition, the study also looks at the role served by communication technologies to improve the communication process and bridge distance. The study has been performed through multiple qualitative case studies within 4 GSD organisations located in South Africa and Mauritius. The Grounded Theory techniques have been applied to analyse the data through a general inductive approach. The results show that SA and Mauritius face numerous GSD challenges. However based on past experiences and failures they devised several practices to overcome those issues and achieve success. The categories uncovered during the study include GSD Governance, Communication Practices, GSD Team, Software Development Practices, GSD Project, GSD Process Issues, GSD Value Issues, Technology, and Culture. One major finding relates to the fact that different software methods, like the Waterfall model, Prototyping or RUP, can be used to fit specific cultural requirements and mediate cultural issues. These methods are beneficial due to their ability to provide flexibility and rigour in the GSD setting. Flexibility is perceived in the way in which they have been adapted to fit the SA and Mauritian GSD context while rigour is demonstrated in the promotion of standards and rules that should be followed to achieve GSD project success. The second major finding relate to the form of communication employed to mediate both cultural and communication issues. In essence, if only one key person offshore is allowed to communicate with team members onshore, communication issues and cultural issues are no longer felt due to non-existing interactions between the team members. This however shifts the high need for communication towards the offshore team members, who have to collaborate tightly with the designated key person and inform him of all pertinent details of the project. Secondary findings reveal that people have a major role to play during GSO orchestration.. GSO team members should be carefully chosen and should possess high adaptability level, good communication skills and expertise level. These features can be improved through regular training. Finally a wide range of technologies are employed within GSO, each fitting for one specific form of work or communication. In addition, each organisation seems to favour one form of communication technology, in spite of employing a palette of tools. The preference is explained by the cost incurred while employing the tool, the infrastructure effectiveness, and the type of work process followed. One technology can also be used to mediate the disadvantages of others.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The Influence of national culture dimensions on agile implementations in the South African software development context
    (2022) Matthews, Kirwin; Tanner, Maureen C
    Culture plays a role in how Agile frameworks are utilised and implemented. Agility requires the active involvement of team members and is said to be suitable in contexts where there is a horizontal hierarchy (low power distance) and where flexibility and spontaneity (low uncertainty avoidance) are emphasised. Cultures from Anglosphere countries, where Agile methodologies originate from, and Nordic countries, are closest aligned to Agile values. Since Agile values are based on Western culture, there is a need to investigate their suitability for cultures that have different values such as South Africa. South Africa offers an interesting context of study due to its heterogeneous cultural grouping. While studies have been conducted to investigate the influence of national culture on Agile implementations in Western and Eastern country contexts, there is no research that explores the influence of national culture and the implementation of Agile methodologies in the South African software development context. Furthermore, few studies have focused on the effect of cultural differences within software engineering in general. The purpose of this study was to describe how national culture influences Agile implementations (roles, processes, and artifacts) within the South African software development context. The study was deductive as national culture frameworks were employed. This study was interpretive and was executed using a qualitative, interview research strategy directed at Agile practitioners in South African software development teams. Data was collected from twenty-six participants from across two major cities in South Africa through online semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis technique was used to analyse the data. Findings reveal that national culture dimensions influence the Agile roles, processes, and artifacts. The basis for contributions was based on the empirical research of this study, specifically in relation to 1) insights into the role of a consolidated set of cultural dimensions on Agile practices 2) implications for agility by discussing findings considering Agile principles and values 3) findings mapped to the Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory principles. A key finding was that South Africa does not demonstrate a homogenous cultural trait. Instead, various cultural traits are revealed, which brings more complexity to the Agile implementations. Thirty-two propositions relating to how the various dimensions influence Agile roles, processes, and artifacts were developed by the researcher. The key 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, and approaches to process improvement and Sprint Planning. Lastly, in this study, the practical contributions are insights into the current context where national culture dimensions influence large-scale Agile frameworks such as SAFe, and small-scale Agile frameworks such as Scrum in South African software development teams. In this regard, it can help inform Agile implementations in practice, and therefore help managers and teams curate Agile teams for appropriate environments.