A change in thinking and overall processes is needed if the country is to overcome the problems associated with the skills crisis anytime soon, said Dr Roger Silberberg.
Silberberg, director of Innovation Africa, speaking at the ITWeb ICT Skills & Training event, emphasised the necessity of changing the processes in SA to help reduce the instance of late and failed projects. "It is important for a project to deliver the benefits outlined in the business case."
Many people overlook the initial promises in the relief of the job being completed, he noted. Projects initially fail because of time, improper planning and functionality considerations.
He pointed to the problems associated with eNatis, which were not technical, but project management related.
Getting it right
Silberberg highlighted the new Tata Nano vehicle as an example of a project that did things right. The white-collar industry, with its experience of the knowledge economy, was correctly aligned with the blue-collar manufacturing industry.
For SA to overcome its problems and move forward, "we need to get out of the old, stale thinking", and change the way business is done, he said.
To complete projects correctly and on time, SA needs new managerial training, because many problems are not technical, but are due to bad planning and management.
Silberberg discussed the Master of Business Systems course in SA, in conjunction with Innovation Africa and Wismar University, in Germany. The project, aimed at CIOs, is recognised by Unesco, SAQA and ISETT SETA. Silberberg said for these reasons, the course is both local and international.
Professor Barry Dwolatzky, head of the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering, at Wits, said the skills crisis can lead to the problem of bad process orientation. He explained that a process is not just technical, but is a cycle of skilled staff, procedures and tools. He suggested a CMMI (capability maturity model integration) system, to rate process maturity on a scale of one to five.
There has been little emphasis on process improvement in SA, leaving the country lacking the processes needed to complete the vast amount of projects in operation today, Dwolatzky said. "SA has many opportunities because the so-called 'legacy systems' that have been in place for a long time are being overhauled."
Dwolatzky said South Africans learn many skills from informal training because the skills crisis allows skilled workers to job-hop. So it is with trepidation that employers will train workers, for fear they will take the skills they've learned and move on.
Although South Africans gain skills from informal routes, they are better than their international counterparts, because instead of specialising, South Africans have a wide spectrum of skills, he added.
In order to improve process orientation, Dwolatzky said the government needs to take more of an interest in ICT education. Unfortunately, the number of matriculants with adequate science and maths results is limited, he noted.
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