TABLE OF CONTENTS Problems with outsourcing go back thousands of years. Records from ancient Egypt document issues in managing mercenary troops. Ancient Roman and Greek records detail methods and problems in managing servants. Machiavelli, in the book The Prince, gave instructions on managing mercenary troops. Many of these ideas remain valid today.
Outsourcing has increased as firms try to implement new systems and technology. Firms outsource support activities, such as maintenance, network operations, help desk, and other work. Why do outsourcing issues arise and surprise people? Because even with a great deal of planning, you find that all outsourcing requires constant management and coordination. Some people assume that if you get the vendor started on the work, it will go all right. This is not a good assumption.
A common complaint in surveys of outsourcing is that the vendor's performance either is highly variable or deteriorates over time. In any case, the work is inadequate. That could mean problems with the quality of the work, the timeliness of work, or what the vendor is really doing.
When you assign people to do the work, you cannot assume that they will do as you say. Everyone puts his or her own spin and stamp on it, with interpretation based on past experience, methods, and tools. If you assign work to a contractor project leader along with expectations of quality, there is no guarantee that...
