Joel Spolsky: In Defense of Not-Invented-Here Syndrome. "In fact, if you've ever had to outsource a critical business function, you realize that outsourcing is hell. ... This principle, unfortunately, seems to be directly in conflict with the ideal of "code reuse good -- reinventing wheel bad." The best advice I can offer: If it's a core business function -- do it yourself, no matter what." Absolutely.
"Pick your core business competencies and goals, and do those in house. If you're a software company, writing excellent code is how you're going to succeed. Go ahead and outsource the company cafeteria and the CD-ROM duplication. ... If you have customers, never outsource customer service." - I can't believe anyone would think to outsource customer service.
"The only exception to this rule, I suspect, is if your own people are more incompetent than everyone else, so whenever you try to do anything in house, it's botched up. Yes, there are plenty of places like this. If you're in one of them, I can't help you." Oh yeah.
Sunday, January 20, 2002
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