parasitic outsourcing
DESCRIPTION
Outsourcing to organisations with strong hierarchical structures means inviting poor quality, greater delays and infrastructure hassles. Agile "flash mob" teams of proven skilled workers are far better once understood well. Publicly available proof of skills should be treated on par with traditional HR interview / testing methods.TRANSCRIPT
Parasitic Outsourcing
The REAL problem with outsourcing
Parasitic Outsourcing
Common opinions: "Outsourcing robs jobs" "Outsourcing reduces quality" "Outsourcing increases delay" True. Can't argue against those. But there is more.
Parasitic Outsourcing
Company A wants work W done. But wants it cheap. Enter outsourcing to Company B. "Just one level of delegation"? Nope!
Parasitic Outsourcing
Total Work = Work W + Communication effort + Infrastructure effort + Decision making effort + Dependencies + More people, away from source
Parasitic Outsourcing
Enter sub-contracting to C Work W ... + 2 x Communication effort + 2 x Infrastructure effort + 2 x Decision making effort + 2 x Dependencies + More people, further away
Parasitic Outsourcing
What about the money? W costs to $100 2 employees = $50 each A is not very happy 2 employees happy.
Parasitic Outsourcing
Outsourcing, one level: 1 middleman (agent/company) 2 remote employees. $50 to middleman $25 to 2 employees. Middleman ONLY TALKS!
Parasitic Outsourcing
If middleman has a local clout, 5 remote contractors. Still, $50 to middleman $25 to 5 contractors. Work quality = ? 5 contractors' morale = ? Anyone happy?
Parasitic Outsourcing
Coordination = ? Understanding of problem = ? Motivation to work = ? Customer? Workers? Users? Exploitation. Only Middleman is happy
Parasitic Outsourcing
Workers have multiple bosses. Satisfaction = ? Decision nodes double. Mismanagement multiplies. Middleman is CEO of shop that hires contractors. His tangible input? ZERO.
Parasitic Outsourcing
Alternatives? Local Employees. Direct over web. VOIP / Collaboration / Video Conf Open source - customization Individuals over corporations
Parasitic Outsourcing
Two Problems: Trust and Quality. Why trust only brands? Why trust fat corporations? Why not try individuals? Ask contractors to prove quality. Hire individuals with proven abilities - open source coders.
Parasitic Outsourcing
"Open sourced HR" Public, crowd-sourced hiring. Coder profile on Ohloh / SF.net. Social networking Instant "mob teams" ("agile")
Parasitic Outsourcing
Public profiles. Highly visible skills. SourceForge marketplace. Not trustworthy enough?
Parasitic Outsourcing
Ignorance of open source = Pay more for lesser quality. Visit online developer communities more often.
Parasitic Outsourcing
Outsourcing to corporations = more bloat & less quality Don't do parasitic outsourcing. Reduce middlemen.
Thanks!