Disconnected Thoughts On Outsourcing
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about outsourcing in the last few months. I’ve read the Wired article, The New Face of The Silicon Age, and can really see both sides of the issue.
As with many things in life there is no real right or wrong. It all really depends on where you sit and what your situation is.
Outsourcing is no different. I do think that it can be a terrible risk, and if not done right it can backfire in a big, big way.
I also think there are times when outsourcing can be of great benefit. I’ve actually had the chance to work with Indian developers on a project, albeit in an ancillary way, and it worked out very well. It was tricky and had to be heavily managed on our end, but it allowed us to get projects done faster as they’d work while our developers slept. All in all it was a small gain, but a gain none the less.
That it worked in that particular situation is by no means a wholesale endorsement of outsourcing. I think with many projects and many job functions you are much better off bringing people in or using what resources you have available to you already in house.
Heck, I’ve seen local outsourcing fail much more often than not, and if you can’t make that work how do you expect off-shore or oversea outsourcing to work?
Outsourcing Web Jobs
Which brings me to my feelings on outsourcing and Web related jobs. After much thought and much discussion I’ve come to the conclusion that outsourcing Web design, development, and production is much to risky and much to hard to do right, to be worth attempting in most cases.
You’d really need to match the right project to the right outsourced talent. Something that most often is not done. I could see this changing in the future, but it’ll need to come from both ends. Right now the pool of outsourced talent seems to be rather hard to wade through.
It really depends on the company, the resources available and the projects needing to be worked on, but by and large, there are just too many things that can go wrong to justify any perceived cost savings.
I guess what I’m saying is that I think it could be done to some degree, but I’m just not sure it would be worth it. The management of outsourced workers alone should easily dissuade many companies against this, particularly on larger projects. I think many who will try outsourcing Web projects will quickly realize this.
It’s not so much the spacial separation that I see being a problem. I’ve worked on quite a few projects myself where I’ve never even talked to my clients on the phone, let alone met them face to face.
I just feel with many job functions you need someone who you can communicate accurately and quickly with. Time differences as well as language barriers and cultural differences can make this tricky at best. There can be no room for confusion when communicating about this projects. Confusion can cost you money.
This can be a challenge when dealing with many workers overseas. There are other issues, especailly when it comes to creative or communication work.
The other big misconception with outsourcing is that it’s all cheap. As with anything you’ll usually get what you pay for. Although there is no doubting the talent vs. cost benefits of overseas developers. They can just do the same things for cheaper. However, there are other costs involved with any type of outsoucing and even if you save some money in the short term, you may end up costing yourself long term.
There are just too many variables, and too many unknowns. If you’ve ever worked on a Web project with an outside firm you know what I’m talking about. Those perceived cost savings by outsourcing can go very quickly - and in my experience often does.
I, for one, wish it were a bit easier. I’d love to take my show on the road, line up some clients and head to South America or Europe for a year or so, working one projects to finance my trip. I can also see how, if managed properly and used in the right spots, how outsourcing could really free up a company’s internal resources.
I do think a pool of talented “outsoucers” or freelancers who went that extra mile and really worked on projects as if they were in house talent could work. But I don’t think it’d be cheap, and landing projects might be to difficult to make it worth their while.
It’s just, realistically, with much of what I and other Web professionals do, it’s so important to have someone who is dedicated to projects and for many organizations insourcing makes much more sense that outsourcing.
I predict a wave of insourcing in the next few years and organizations mature, get more comfortable with the Web and begin to take their Web projects, and the people behind them, more seriously.
I also predict some small, dedicated, focused and talented Web teams (and to a lesser extent individuals) to begin to offer quality outsourcing to those who can afford it. They’ll be able to mitigate the risks of outsourcing, by taking a more dedicated and focused approach. These folks will show us that outsourcing itself isn’t the problem (if there is one) it’s just how it’s done.
|
