Statement of purpose

Introducing a software product into international markets places new and unique requirements on the product development process. This includes new data to collect, new decisions to make, and new functionality to implement, test, and deliver.

By the third or fourth international release of a product, these process requirements are fairly obvious. The greatest risk lies in the initial internationalization project, when neither the need to adapt the process, nor the adaptations required, are necessarily obvious. Failure to address these process requirements can result in very expensive and disruptive mistakes.

Description

This session will describe how to adapt the software development process for internationalization projects, including:

• Re-engineering of domestic products into international products
• Developing new international products from the ground up

While it's certainly true that internationalization impacts every phase of the software development process, in terms of process changes, the impact is most critical at the following stages:

1. The business planning phase
2. Requirements definition
3. Architecture
4. QA

This session will focus on the adaptations required for these phases of the development process.

Conclusions / final summary

When preparing a software product for international markets, organizations need to be aware of how it will impact not only their product, but also their development process. While the process changes needed are typically small, the cost of failing to make those changes can be high.