It turns out that some people disagree with me
The other day I posted an article about my aversion to using outsourced software development firms for new product development. Well, I got a few private emails and comments (which didn’t make it past my filter) telling me that I was wrong. So I thought I would take a minute to respond. My video response is below:
My main argument is this – yes, outsourced development may work for back-end non customer facing work or common tasks like setting up a WordPress blog. I still assert that it is a horrible idea for you to build your business on their work.
- Product development is nearly impossible – you can’t write the perfect specifications in a vacuum
- Incremental improvements are difficult – every change or modification generates a change request and billable hours
- Responding to bugs is slow – ideally, your technical lead would be able to identify and fix problems in an early stage company. Instead, you have to document the bug, assign it a priority, have the developers generate a change request and bill, agree to the terms, and THEN fix the bug.
- Your incentives are not aligned – You need someone who will be up at 3 AM worrying about the product. They will watch your site at 3 AM and bill you for the privilege. If the product fails, they will move on to another client. If the product fails, you will have to deal with angry shareholders.
thank you