ICT System Acquistion & Integration- Report Writing Assignment

Internal Code: MAS1830

Report Writing Assignment:

Task: Topic: Organisational Readiness Article: Samson, T. (2011) ‘Ex-Amazonian urges Google to sample Amazon's secret sauce’, InfoWorld,12 October, http://www.infoworld.com/article/2620780/service-oriented- architecture/ex-amazonian-urges- google-to- sample-amazon- s-secret- sauce Questions 1. The article concerns Amazon’s use of service-oriented architecture (SOA) as the foundation for all interfaces (human and technical) vs. the approach taken by other major software companies (e.g. Google, Facebook, Apple, etc.): why? 2. Samson is really analysing a blog post by Steve Yegge: what is the relevant of Yegge’s present and former employment to the topic of the article? 3. What are the key points of difference between Amazon’s approach to software development vs. those of their competitors? 4. What is the relevance of these issues to companies acquiring cloud software or services (if any)? 5. Why do you think I chose this 5-year- old article as a basis for your analysis of this lecture? Topic: Optimising the User Experience Article: Kirkby, S. (2016) ‘Is the role of training and user guides for collaboration tools becoming extinct?’, ZDNet Australia, 8 August, http://www.zdnet.com/article/is-the- role-of- training-and- user-guides-for- collaboration-tools- becoming-extinct/ Questions 1. The authors of this article believes ‘traditional’ end-user ICT training is both out-of- date and/or not widely accepted in today’s high tech world: do you believe he’s right? Why (not)? 2. How does Kirkby distinguish learning from coaching? 3. What are the benefits of ‘coaching’ end-users rather than training them? Does the fact that Kirkby is focusing on training users for collaboration software make any difference? 4. What are the biggest challenges Kirkby sees in introducing coaching programs? Do you agree – why (not)? 5. What is the overall goal of end-user training (in whatever form)? Do you believe Kirkby’s approach will achieve this goal? Topic: Creating & Sustaining Agility Article: Cowan, P. (2016) ‘Canberra is losing the ‘treasured people; keeping legacy IT alive’, ITNews, 26 August, http://www.itnews.com.au/news/canberra-is- losing-the- treasured-people- keeping- legacy-it- alive-434997 Questions 1. Legacy systems are widely despised but, as the author of this article points out, we still depend heavily on them – what do you think is the basis for this attitude towards legacy systems? 2. Who are the ‘treasured people’ of this article and why are they so important? 3. What is likely to happen when this group of maintenance developers really do retire? 4. What possible alternatives are there to simply losing all our legacy development skills? 5. What are the implications of this trend for companies acquiring ICT solutions today?