Software Ownership Transfer: Evolving Knowledge Transfer for the Agile World

Chapter 1. The Challenge with Knowledge Transfers

Every IT product goes through a knowledge transfer (KT) phase at some point in its lifetime. Quite often it is immediately after development is completed and maintenance has taken over. Sometimes other reasons can trigger a knowledge transition. Outsourcing, an incumbent’s poor performance, or business landscape changes can trigger a need to hand over an IT product.

While going through this phase, enterprises often do not have a predictable way of transitioning. In outsourcing scenarios, one relies on the expertise provided by the vendor taking over the application. In cases of restructuring or insourcing, organizations might not have a ready reckoner to look at how these transitions can be handled. ...