Issues in software development practices : A South African software practitioners’ viewpoint

Abstract

Software development is a process tasked with the development of artefacts that are used to implement organizational information systems. Depending on the social, economical and environmental setting, different software practices are used. These, however, have an effect on the resultant software product. In this paper, the authors investigate some of the software development practices that are used in South Africa. Through the use of interview techniques, the study highlighted a plethora of methods, techniques and tools that are used during the software development process. This paper advocates for a paradigm shift in the way information systems are developed. It motivates for developers to consider the social context of organizational information systems when developing software products. In a social context, capturing the organizational culture, context and human aspect contributes to the system’s responsiveness and its adaptiveness to the ever changing organizational environment.