Software Product Transfers: Lessons Learned from a Case Study

Although global software work nowadays is not a phenomenon, research and practice is still addressing the complexities associated with the new forms of work enabled through globalization. `Go global' strategies usually prescribe two alternative approaches: distribution of software development activities across several locations, or re-location of work to another site. This research paper focuses on the latter approach that is called software product transfers and discusses findings from an empirical case study conducted in Ericsson. The observations indicate that transferring software work from one site to another site of the same company is a challenging endeavor. Furthermore, practices used in co-located projects do not necessarily lead to a desired outcome. The paper provides an overview of the challenges and highlights practical advice for handling software product transfers.