Co-sourcing in software development offshoring: A case study of risk perception and alleviation

Software development projects are increasingly geographical distributed with offshoring, which introduce complex risks that can lead to project failure. Co-sourcing is a highly integrative and cohesive approach, seen successful, to software development offshoring. However, research of how co-sourcing shapes the perception and alleviation of common offshoring risks is limited. We present a case study of how a certified CMMI-level 5 Danish software supplier approaches these risks in offshore co-sourcing. The paper explains how common offshoring risks are perceived and alleviated when adopting the co-sourcing strategy in a mature (CMMI level 5) software development organization. We found that most of the common offshoring risks were perceived and alleviated in accordance with previous research, with the exception of the task distribution risk area. In this case, high task uncertainty, equivocality, and coupling across sites was perceived more as risk alleviation than risk taking. This perception of task distribution was combined with high attention to the closely interrelated structure and technology components in terms of CMMI and the actors’ cohesion and integration in terms of Scrum.