Outsource It!: A No-Holds-Barred Look at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Offshoring Tech Projects

Cover......Page 1
Table of Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 11
Why Outsourcing?......Page 12
Who Is This Book For?......Page 13
How to Read This Book......Page 14
Online Resources......Page 15
Part I—Decide If, What, and How to Outsource......Page 16
1. Make an Educated Decision......Page 17
Get SMART: Defining Outsourcing Objectives......Page 18
The Risks of Outsourcing......Page 19
The Rewards of Outsourcing......Page 22
Cost Savings: Expectations Versus Reality......Page 24
Ability to Scale......Page 28
Quality of Deliverables......Page 29
What—and How Much—Should You Outsource?......Page 30
Working Together: Finding the Right Outsourcing Model......Page 31
A Sample Outsourcing Action Plan......Page 36
Multisourcing: Tame the Risks by Diversifying......Page 39
Microsourcing: Outsourcing to Freelancers......Page 42
Out-Tasking and Crowd-Sourcing......Page 44
Outsourcing Your Life......Page 46
Best-of-Breed Sourcing Strategies......Page 47
Part II—Find the Right Vendors......Page 48
The Golden Rules of Vendor Selection......Page 49
Selecting the Destination......Page 51
High-Level Vendor Selection Criteria......Page 56
Generating a List of Prospective Vendors......Page 58
Detailed Vendor Selection Criteria......Page 59
The RFI Process......Page 60
The RFP Process......Page 63
Evaluating Proposals......Page 65
It\'s PowerPoint Time......Page 66
Watching Out for Warning Signs......Page 67
The Large-Vendor Selection Process......Page 68
The Small-Vendor Selection Process......Page 70
The Individual Provider Selection Process......Page 71
The Impact of Personality......Page 76
Understanding Vendor Personality Types......Page 78
Matching the Engagement to a Vendor\'s Personality......Page 83
Identifying the Personality of the Vendor......Page 85
Managing Personality Differences......Page 86
On-Site Visits......Page 88
Technical Due Diligence......Page 90
The X-Factor......Page 93
The Final Decision......Page 94
Part III—Negotiate Solid Contracts......Page 97
The Basics of Negotiations......Page 98
The Forces That Influence the Outcome of Negotiation......Page 99
Navigating the Negotiations Process......Page 101
Negotiations Walkthrough......Page 102
Getting What You Need with Win-Win Negotiations......Page 105
Offshore Contract Basics......Page 108
Controlling the Total Cost of Outsourcing with Your Contract......Page 109
The MSA Invisibility Cloak......Page 111
Rates and Total Cost of Outsourcing......Page 112
The Enigma of Rates......Page 113
Researching Offshore Rates......Page 114
Negotiating a Fair Rate......Page 115
Part IV—Lead Distributed Engagements......Page 117
11. Control Your Engagement......Page 118
Communicating with Your Offshore Team: Practical Matters......Page 119
Communicating with Your Offshore Team: The Squishy Stuff......Page 121
Managing Project Execution......Page 123
Accepting Deliverables......Page 125
Setting Up Metrics......Page 127
The Outsourcer\'s Toolbox......Page 130
Laying the Groundwork......Page 133
Staffing Offshore Engagements......Page 134
Choosing Candidates: The Personality Factor......Page 137
Maintaining Your Team......Page 139
Team Morale: Motivation and Rewards......Page 140
Offshore Waterfalls......Page 143
Agile Offshore......Page 145
Outsourcing Quality Assurance......Page 149
Outsourcing Code Development......Page 150
“Black Box” Outsourcing......Page 153
Part V—Keep Risks under Control......Page 155
14. Mitigate the Risks of Your Engagements......Page 156
Using Contracts to Mitigate Offshore Risks......Page 157
Protecting Data and IP......Page 159
Dealing with Internal Risks......Page 162
Minimizing Team Impact Risks......Page 164
15. Minimize the Cost of Failures......Page 166
The Benefits of Disposable Outsourcing......Page 167
The Path Toward Disposable Outsourcing......Page 168
Intermediaries in Disposable Outsourcing......Page 170
Moving Toward Disposable Outsourcing in QA......Page 171
The Complacency Trap......Page 173
Watching the Pulse of the Engagement......Page 174
Investing in the Relationship......Page 177
Fixing What\'s Broken......Page 180
Terminating an Engagement......Page 181
Closing Remarks......Page 185
India......Page 186
China......Page 191
Southeast Asia......Page 198
Russia......Page 200
Central and Eastern Europe......Page 205
Ireland and Israel......Page 206
Brazil......Page 207
Mexico......Page 209
Latin America......Page 211
Canada......Page 213
The Rural United States......Page 214
A4. Outsourcing Readiness Assessment Checklist......Page 216
Macro Factors......Page 218
Subjective Considerations......Page 219
Personal Factors......Page 220
Deciding If, What, and How to Outsource......Page 221
Finding Partners for Your Outsourcing Initiative......Page 222
Negotiating the Contract with Selected Vendors......Page 223
Building and Leading Your Offshore Team......Page 224
Mitigating Risks and Minimizing the Cost of Failures......Page 225
Terminating the Outsourcing Engagement......Page 226
Processes......Page 227
Competence......Page 229
System Architecture......Page 230
Technical Support and System Monitoring......Page 231
Security and Privacy......Page 232
Other......Page 233
Bibliography......Page 236
– C –......Page 237
– I –......Page 238
– O –......Page 239
– S –......Page 240
– V –......Page 241
– X –......Page 242