Merit Coba

What makes you an expert?
Is it because you know something very well?
Is it because you know more than someone else does about a given subject?
Is someone an expert because she writes a book on a subject? Just one book? Or many books?
I wondered about it.
Am I an expert because I have read a few articles on a subject and have some experiences?
I think not.
So who would be mad enough to start a blog about a subject she knows next to nothing about?
I would, I guess.

In the series of blogposts starting with CC I will write down my experiences and observations about (out)sourcing in the world of information technology.
Don’t get me wrong. I do not pretend to be an expert in outsourcing. But since a lot of people feel that way and hesitate to write about this subject, I want to write about it anyway, and from the standpoint of someone who is in the middle of a process of outsourcing and is in the middle of a discussion about it.
I think there is a need because when I was confronted by outsourcing I had a hard time to find sources with a balanced view. You will find that the searches are filled with companies selling outsourcing as a product. They will tell you what a blessing it is. They have to, just like car companies tell you their cars are the hottest thing in town. And if it is not a business promoting outsourcing then it’s experts, consultants and anyone else who make a living from outsourcing.
Dissenting voices can be found. They are pushed down to the bottom of the searches. The internet has it’s own system of unintentional opinion suppression: one buys their way to the top of the searches. Lacking money your descent is imminent.
Outsourcing is part of what is called sourcing. Sourcing deals with one subject: how to provide for an (adequate) workforce. Often this gets turned into: how to reduce the cost of the workforce.
Reducing the cost of the workforce is pretty easy: fire the lot of them.
But you can spot the problem: without a workforce there is no work being done. Without work nothing gets made and when you make nothing you can only sell nothing and nothing cannot be sold for a profit. Well, not normally.
Sourcing has always been a challenge, but with the internet new ways of sourcing develop. The internet makes it possible to have work done in other countries using a workforce that is far cheaper. This is basically outsourcing: using an cheaper workforce in another country to get the same work done.
In later posts I will expand on this.