  Risks and potential benefits of distributing software development projects
globally depend to a large extent on how to allocate work to different
development sites and regions. Existing methods in task allocation are likely
to omit the relevance of considering a multitude of criteria and the impact of
task distribution on risks and potential benefits. To assess risks stemming
from specific work distributions and to exploit organization-specific
experience, we have developed a customizable risk-driven model. It consists of
two main steps: Suggesting a set of task allocation alternatives based on
project- and site-specific characteristics and analyzing it with respect to
possible project risks stemming from the work distribution. To evaluate the
model, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews in a multinational
IT company. The results of the evaluation show that the suggestions of the
model mostly comply with the retrospective views voiced by the involved
experienced managers.
