Derek Smith

Background

About Derek Smith

Through my 4 very different careers I have been involved in and successfully managed major projects relating to IT and organisational change. I was formally retired from UCT in December 2010. My research publications have a strong focus on I.S. people management and project management issues. I have been fortunate to have published with outstanding international researchers (the late Prof Dan Couger - Motivation as well as the late Prof Magid Igbaria - IT staff turnover and retention). I have supervised many post-graduate students ( for example, in 2010 I had 6 Masters candidates graduate, 3 with distinction. I also supervised 3 successful Masters graduates in 2011). Thesis topics covered aspects like IT Program Management, IT Value, IT/Business Alignment, IT Staff Motivation, Telecommuting and various aspects of strategic project management. I co-founded a training business, Faculty Training Institute in 1989. I designed, developed and taught the highly successful Diploma in IT Project Management at FTI during those years until my retirement. Since retirement from UCT, I worked closely with Getsmarter until Dec 2018, building a PM short course which has run for many years and attracted over students. More importantly, and with a Getsmarter and UCT alliance, we developed a 12-month NQF7 Advanced Diploma in Business Project Management. This was run 5 times and graduated almost students. Sadly the qualification is no longer offered. I own the IP for the 48 modules. I have been a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from 2004 until January 2019 when I was classified as Retired Status.