A Systematic Approach to Setting Up Distributed Global Collaborations for Software-based Products in the Automotive Domain

There is an increasing need for organizations to collaborate with internal and external partners on a global scale for creating software-based products and services. Many aspects and risks need to be addressed when setting up such global collaborations. Different types of collaborations such as engineering collaborations or innovation-focused collaborations need to be considered. Further aspects such as cultural and social aspects, coordination, infrastructure, organizational change process, and communication issues need to be examined. Although there are already experiences available with respect to setting up global collaborations, they are mainly focusing on certain specific areas. An overall holistic approach that guides companies in systematically setting up global collaborations for software-based products is widely missing. The goal of this thesis is to analyze existing literature and related information and to extract topics that need be taken into account while establishing global software development collaborations - to identify solutions, risks, success factors, strategies, good experiences as well as good examples. This information is structured in a way so that it can be used by companies as a well-grounded holistic approach to guide companies effectively in setting up long-term global collaborations in the domain 'software development'. The presented approach is based on scientific findings reported in literature, driven by industry needs, and confirmed by industry experts. The content of the thesis consists of two main parts: In the first part a literature study analyzes existing experience reports, case studies and other available literature in order to identify what aspects and practices need to be considered by organizations when setting up global collaborations in the domain software development. Secondly, based on the results from the literature review and consultation with the industrial partner Daimler AG, the identified aspects and practices are structured and prioritized in the form of activity roadmaps, which present a holistic guide for setting up global collaborations. The developed guidance worksheet, the so-called 'Global canvas', is meant to be a guide and reminder of all major activities that are necessary to perform when doing global collaborations for software-based products and services. The main contributions of this thesis are an analysis of the state of the practice in setting-up of global software development collaborations, identification of aspects and successful practices that need to be addressed by organizations when doing global collaborations for software-based products and services and the creation of a holistic approach that presents scientific findings to industry in an effective and credible way and guides companies in systematically setting up global collaborations