The December Software Development is themed "Offshore Uproar" and has a lot of food for thought. There're some telling survey results (SD has gotten very sophisticated in terms of surveys -- I think they're pretty clearly the best in the software development trade press), including this tidbit:
"How would you rate the quality of work done by the offshore team?"
- 12% said "Of high strategic value" or "Better than in-house results."
- 56% said "Worse than in-house results" or "Unusable or a setback to progress."
But "Does your company plan to continue using your offshore outsourcing vendor?"
- 90% say yes.
There's a saying that "Everyone has a plan until they get hit." I have to admit I have a queasy feeling of recognition: everyone's a free market capitalist until their industry gets commoditized.