> An outsourced developer isn't a "tool". I'd think that depends on the model of responsibility at play. For example, suppose I hire a building contractor to

> An outsourced developer isn't a "tool". I'd think that depends on the model of responsibility at play. For example, suppose I hire a building contractor to build a house, and the electrician he subcontracts makes mistake. From my perspective, the prime contractor is equally responsible for that mistake regardless of whether he used a subcontractor, or did the work himself but used a broken tool. This doesn't make the electrician any less of a "person" in the deeply important ways, but it's not a distinction that's relevant to my handling of the problem.