] "There were too many headaches in dealing with India," he
] says, recalling his experience overseeing such work. "We
] often got spaghetti code that was functional, but
] couldn't grow. We had no idea if delivery dates would be
] hit because they would freely give promises, but not
] results. The time difference was very difficult. The
] explanation, 'They program while you sleep' doesn't hold
] water. Too often, a problem would arise and they would
] respond the next day with, 'Well, we weren't sure what
] you wanted to do' -- and a whole day was lost, time and
] again. Before long we were four months behind schedule.
] It was also very difficult to remotely manage a project
] unless you had a very strong infrastructure over there of
] U.S.-style managers. Finally, the rising costs over there
] make it tougher to justify."

And boy-oh-boy, I cannot emphasize enough what a headache coordinating work across timezones can be. Everything about it induces massive amounts of stress. That is a very no-bullshit problem. You don't want to manage across timezones any more then necessary. Any type of micromanagement isn't even remotely possible. When Decius and I were working around Asia-Pac, this was the source of so much stress (even though it wasn't anything like an outsourcing situation, aside from the logistical effects). Right around the time of day when you are starting to look at the door, your overseas offices are coming online. Those precious hours of overlap, are where you would normally have an evening social life. Instead, you get home around 11pm and survive thanks only to pizza delivery.

I imagine outsourcing only really winds up being "cheap" if you can manage your groups extremely effectively. Onsite management can't be weak. Rather, management must be on site, even if its taking its direction from overseas.

] Cost. No contest here. The cost for a managed developer
] in India was $3,200 per month, vs. $1,000 a month in
] Colombia. (A managed developer is overseen by an onsite
] manager monitoring progress and quality, so the cost
] includes part of the manager's salary.) The difference in
] costs is so vast that it actually allows K3 group to make
] money in an area not known for profits, says Ryan. "Typically,
] with enterprise-application software, consulting for customer
] specific needs just breaks even. The benefit with having a
] low-cost development outsourcing partner is that we can
] make money with consulting."

Forget India.. Forget China.. Forget Malaysia.. South America, baby.

I worked with an engineer from Columbia a few years back.. She rocked.

A New Tide in Offshore Outsourcing