This post originated from an RSS feed registered with .NET Buzz by Darrell Norton. Original Post: Off-shoring stories Feed Title: Darrell Norton's Blog Feed URL: /error.htm?aspxerrorpath=/blogs/darrell.norton/Rss.aspx Feed Description: Agile Software Development: Scrum, XP, et al with .NET Latest .NET Buzz Posts Latest .NET Buzz Posts by Darrell Norton Latest Posts From Darrell Norton's Blog

Brendan is asking for off-shoring stories. Well, here is one that I know about, plus some of my own thoughts.

My cousin worked (past-tense) for a large long-distance telephone company whose name sounds like sprynt, and he facilitated a Project Manager-type role for a mostly offshore team in India. He often had to attend conference calls at midnight (12am) due to the time differences. What moron thought that one up? I don't know, but it certainly could not have helped communication.

Later he was laid off as his job was outsourced, so PMs should not feel safe! And to add insult to injury, he was forced to train his replacement.

Considering that the Standish Group's CHAOS Report regularly states that customer involvement is the number 1 factor in project success, why would anyone think that placing the team half-way around the world from the customer would improve project success? Communication is hard enough between people speaking the same native language, working in the same company, and living in the same general community. Now add in time differences, cultural differences, and the difficulty of real-time communication, and it is not getting easier.

To all the companies that think that off-shoring is a good idea, I have this question: If you can't succeed managing projects in your own company, how in the hell do you think you will be successful managing projects thousands of miles away?

Most companies like the lower pay rates overseas. However, many reports show that very good developers outperform average developers by as much as 10-to-1. Even if the off-shore programmers are paid half as much (even a quarter!), I can still hire a few talented individuals in the US and come out on top.

I think the reason so many employers resist is that they don’t think top developers should be paid all that much. So instead of raising pay for their top developers and firing the non-performers, companies decide to off-shore where the average pay is less, but the same inequity among developer talent remains. It is not fixing the fundamental problem.