Outsourcing #
It is very commong to see middle and big companies outsourcing their digital transformation, which I think is very dangerous because digital is core for almost all businesse today, and while doing it for your core, you are loosing flexibility and risking innovation, which are very important in a world changing so fast. And, this rate of change is not going to decrease, the opposite will be true.
From Software Architecture Elevator:
"...outsourcing software delivery has severe drawbacks in the digital age: first, it prevents the organization from effectively participating in the Build-Measure-Learn cycle because externals typically work on a pre negotiated scope of work and therefore have little incentive to keep iterating on products or to shorten release cycles. Second, the organization won’t be able to develop a deep understanding of new technologies and their potential, thus stifling innovation. Worse yet, in many cases knowledge of a company’s existing system landscape rests with external contractors, rendering the organization unable to make rational decisions based on the status quo. If you don’t know your starting point, it’s difficult to get on the road to change."
From Acelerate:
"The fact that software delivery performance matters provides a strong argument against outsourcing the development of software that is strategic to your business, and instead bringing this capability into the core of your organization. Even the US Federal Government, through initiatives such as the US Digital Service and its agency affiliates and the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Service team, has invested in bringing software development capability in-house for strategic initiatives.
In contrast, most software used by businesses (such as office productivity software and payroll systems) are not strategic and should in many cases be acquired using the software-as-a-service model. Distinguishing which software is strategic and which isn’t, and managing them appropriately, is of enormous importance."
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