In a very good March 8, 2005, article on "IT Outsourcing: Maturity Phase," Basil Tesler, who's affiliated with Intetics, a firm that offers offshore software development, discusses how outsourcing/offshoring/strategic sourcing is evolving beyond the initial project-by-project model and concerns for reducing costs to a more complex one based on interdependent relationships and what Gartner refers to as "enhancement" and "frontier" relationships. You can read the article at http://www.dmreview.com/editorial/newsletter_article.cfm?nl=bireport&articleId=1022439&issue=20156
Tesler's point was echoed by executive coach Susan Cramm, principal of San Clemente, CA-based Valuedance, in an interview I had with her yesterday. (It won't be long before you'll be able to read transcripts of this and other interviews with sourcing practitioners and thought leaders here at sourcingmag.com. In the meantime, I encourage you to browse Susan's dozens of insightful columns at http://www.cio.com/research/leadership/executivecoach.html.)
Cramm, like Tesler, spoke about the need for alliances rather than a hodgepode of outsourcing contractors. In the same vein (strategic sourcing), she said it was time to quit "playing defense" with regards to sourcing.
I think you'll enjoy the Cramm interview once it's posted – and perhaps even be inspired to reflect on your own career and future. As Susan said, most of us don't take enough time to reflect – on ourselves, our values, our dreams and visions. Most of Susan's clients come to her, she said, because of a precipitating event. Wouldn't it be nice if we would take the time to get some career coaching proactively, instead of reactively, in response to some crisis?
Finally, as a result of reading Susan's article at the CIO.com site, I ran across an interesting Q&A column where readers posed some interesting ethics-related questions. You might enjoy reading it at http://www.cio.com/archive/030105/ethics.html.
