5 ms·

> those who think "outsourcing" means "I tell you the idea, and you do all the work" What mystifies me is people will laugh in your face if you try this outsid

by VLM 11y ago

> those who think "outsourcing" means "I tell you the idea, and you do all the work" What mystifies me is people will laugh in your face if you try this outside programming, but are taken seriously almost exclusively by the programming field, even decades after its acknowledged most projects fail. Clearly other forms of enlightenment have failed so far; maybe extreme sarcasm would work? We've tried everything else and it hasn't sunk in yet... So I've got an idea. Psychedelic accordion music. Awesome huh? Now unfortunately I can't play the accordion, but I'm sure I can just take advantage of some poor person on the other side of the planet who can play an accordion and currently can't afford to eat. On one hand I have to move fast and break things so I'll need to hire the first accordion player I ever meet, on the other hand I need to appear to be pinching pennies so I'll need to hire the cheapest accordion player on the entire internet (and what could possibly go wrong with that?), and on the third hand I could only hire ivy league grad accordion players who live in only one town but then I'd have to complain constantly about the small supply and high salary demands and extreme groupthink ... Eh I'll get the cheap guy, what could possibly go wrong. I've got another idea, I'm going to disintermediate the legacy plumbing industry by positioning my new unicorn as an intermediary (err pretend not to notice that) in the lucrative and exciting excrement removal field. Unfortunately I don't know anything about plumbing or sanitation or building codes, but move fast and break things, and I can just hire some people who know what they're doing, I'm an ideas guy you know, so I deserve all the rewards. True, the guys who told me they know plumbing, also do not know plumbing, and we're a little unclear on what flows downhill or uphill or whatever hill. But that's OK because our unicorn's iOuthouse shipping rate is going exponential. I even greenwashed my product by making it out of organically grown free range hemp cardboard, which is a good selling point for the tens, maybe hundreds of potential customers. Oh wait, did I say that? I meant tens to hundreds of millions of potential customers. I also integrated "social" and "chat" by implementing "long line to the bathroom" although the lawyers claim professional sporting events have prior art. Oh well off to collect the billions I'm entitled to, got an IPO to arrange!

osullivj 11y ago
LOL! iOuthouse, excrement removal - very droll ;)
jo909 11y ago
But somehow you can build a house without knowing much about static loads, roofing, plumbing, insulation, heating etc. Of course the less you know the more you risk that someone sells you crap, but that is nothing special to outsourcing. I would of course expect to be able to tell a producer/composer to come up with some accordion music, and that he will know what questions he has to ask and when to send me a demo for feedback to make this a success.
- chris_wot 11y ago
  Construction projects, if not managed by someone who knows what they are doing, absolutely do go over budget and overtime. The difference is that on construction projects, construction project managers who work for the company commissioning the building work are experienced project managers who have normally been working in the construction industry and are knowledgable and skilled in many areas of construction and do know what can be delivered, what should be delivered, and what they need to go when they encounter problems and project slippage. In fact, in construction there is actually MORE outsourcing than in software projects, because in actual fact you'll contact out specialise work (e.g. Electrical work) who then often five work to subcontractors.
  - jo909 11y ago
    Where I live it is very ususal to just hire an architect and then a general contractor. So the party that commissions the project (has the "idea") really has little knowledge at the start of the project. But of course they depend on their partners to handle all the project management. Which all is just to say: I think it is very reasonable and common to only bring the idea and then hire someone to do the work. The problem with what is mostly called "outsourcing" in the software industry is not the fact that you want to hire someone, but more in how careful you select your partners.
    - dboreham 11y ago
      If only we had Architects for Software.
    - 11y ago
whoiskevin 11y ago
Nice!

by VLM 11y ago

osullivj 11y ago

LOL! iOuthouse, excrement removal - very droll ;)

jo909 11y ago

But somehow you can build a house without knowing much about static loads, roofing, plumbing, insulation, heating etc. Of course the less you know the more you risk that someone sells you crap, but that is nothing special to outsourcing. I would of course expect to be able to tell a producer/composer to come up with some accordion music, and that he will know what questions he has to ask and when to send me a demo for feedback to make this a success.

chris_wot 11y ago
Construction projects, if not managed by someone who knows what they are doing, absolutely do go over budget and overtime. The difference is that on construction projects, construction project managers who work for the company commissioning the building work are experienced project managers who have normally been working in the construction industry and are knowledgable and skilled in many areas of construction and do know what can be delivered, what should be delivered, and what they need to go when they encounter problems and project slippage. In fact, in construction there is actually MORE outsourcing than in software projects, because in actual fact you'll contact out specialise work (e.g. Electrical work) who then often five work to subcontractors.
- jo909 11y ago
  Where I live it is very ususal to just hire an architect and then a general contractor. So the party that commissions the project (has the "idea") really has little knowledge at the start of the project. But of course they depend on their partners to handle all the project management. Which all is just to say: I think it is very reasonable and common to only bring the idea and then hire someone to do the work. The problem with what is mostly called "outsourcing" in the software industry is not the fact that you want to hire someone, but more in how careful you select your partners.
  - dboreham 11y ago
    If only we had Architects for Software.
  - 11y ago

whoiskevin 11y ago

Nice!