One of the biggest difficulties with outsourcing is also one of the biggest difficulties with software in general: sufficient specifications. Hardware producti

One of the biggest difficulties with outsourcing is also one of the biggest difficulties with software in general: sufficient specifications. Hardware production outsourcing works well. You design the product, prototype it, create a specification that describes every necessary detail, and find a company to make your device. This engineering design process is expensive but does work well. Your onshore workers are the engineers, designers, and the like. Your offshore workers are the production staff. Software production outsourcing works poorly. Creating a thorough enough specification for production is exactly as difficult as creating the program. You have all the same types of onshore workers, but there's no production staff!