Outsourcing Software Development - You Get What You Pay For

This post is excerpting / paraphrasing a section that appeared in our July 2008 newsletter.  I'd really love to hear your thoughts on this. 

Over the past months, I have been approached by several different companies to help them clean up someone else’s mess (actually, disaster). Some of these companies we’ve been able to help (essentially rewriting their system), some we’ve had to turn down, and a few we are still in the midst of discussions and specifications. The details are different, but the recurring theme is the same: a company looks to outsource some or all of its software development in order to save money. They find a vendor who offers to do the work for a low price. X months and Y thousands of dollars later, they sadly realize that the reason the vendor was so inexpensive is because the system they delivered is close to useless. Then they call me.

I’ve been thinking about why we at Renaissance are different from these other companies and developers. Sure, we have assembled a team of exceptional software developers – but everyone claims to have done that (even when obviously not true). Beyond raw talent and a great environment, why do we always succeed where others seem to fail? At Renaissance, we spend a lot of time and effort in evaluating, selecting, and continuously improving the tools, techniques, and technologies that we use for our projects. From what I’ve seen and heard from these other projects, the software vendors did not use recent technologies, did not use known and common best practices, failed to use any sort of structured process, and were unaware of the many tools available to make things easier and faster. I just don’t get it…

When it comes to outsourcing software development, like most things in life, you get what you pay for.

8 Comments

  • Are you guys hiring? ;)

    I would agree that like most things in life, you get what you pay for, except when you don't! I have been in sittuations where the client paid loads of money to a domestic company and still end up with a piece of junk. So to me, the title of your post ought to read: "Software Development - you get what you pay for".

  • Tom,

    We are always looking for great (or potentially great) developers...

    You're definitely right - there have been plenty of documented cases of companies getting burned goign the other way. Spending millions of dollars on a high-priced consulting firm, where all they get in the end is a mismanged group of inexperienced programmers.

    I was simply writing/venting in the context of my recent experiences - being called in to help companies who got burned when they thought they were going to save a ton of money - which ended up costing them both time and money in the end.

  • hmmm sounds like someone because of outsourcing took your job or something... :)

  • Nawaz,

    Not at all - just the opposite. We got a 6-month, 3-man project because the client's first attempt at outsourcing was so unsuccessful.

  • Agreed.

  • I'm in the same 'class' of help as you are (expensive, domestic, professional). I have to say, though, that the wording of your second paragraph really makes the whole post look like nothing more than a cheap attempt at shameless self-promotion.

    " Beyond raw talent and a great environment, why do we always succeed where others seem to fail?" c'mon... *waaay* over the top. Even if it's true (I have no way of knowing), it comes across as boasting.

  • Paul,

    I certainly wasn't attempting cheap, shameless promotion, but... building a great team and providing them with a great environment takes time, effort, and money - and I am proud that I seemed to have succeeded at that.

  • this is just insane and marketing blah blah for your company... there are several respectable offshore development centers, that's why Egypt making 600,000,000 US$ out of outsourceing ..

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