Case study - Successful Know-how transfer and transition to agile development
A US-based software company successfully transferred development activities from Paris and Tel Aviv to Estonia, transitioning to agile methods within a year. The project ensured smooth know-how transfer, seamless team integration, and adoption of Scrum, enhancing the company's efficiency and competitiveness.
- Industry
- Software and Technology / Cross-Platform Software Development
- Roles
- Project Manager for know-how transfer and transition to agile development, Change Management Project Manager
- Services
- Project management, change management, team leadership, intercultural communication, agile development
Objective
The main task of this project was to orderly transfer development activities from two external departments (in Paris and Tel Aviv) to the main site in Estonia. The two existing development departments were to be closed, and their functions were to be taken over by newly hired teams in Estonia.
Challenges
The project aimed to ensure a smooth know-how transfer without significant losses, recruit qualified staff in Estonia, manage the layoff of current employees at local sites while maintaining their motivation, and ensure constructive collaboration among all parties in a multicultural environment with global operations.
Execution
Initially, the transformation methodology was adapted to the agile development environment with phases of initialization, shadowing, reverse shadowing, and hypercare. The use of Scrum[^3] facilitated collaboration and knowledge transfer between the outgoing and incoming teams. Scrum was also effectively used to monitor the progress of the knowledge transfer, ensuring the achievement of project goals.
Outcome
The project resulted in the successful transfer of existing development know-how to the new development departments, allowing a smooth start of these departments at the new site in Estonia. Additionally, the software development process was successfully transitioned to agile development methods. These outcomes contributed to increasing the company's efficiency and competitiveness.