I'm sorry to say I have been a part to exactly these sorts of decisions. Not willingly, but present on that ship set to sail into known risk whirlpools.
This was such a reality in the finance industry in the 1990s that banks actually started taking legal action.
During the outsourcing boom, companies would hire consultants to streamline operations. The consultant would fire huge swaths of the company, replace them with offshore (usually in India) employees, save the companies millions in salaries, pocket a huge bonus (often in the millions itself), and then move on to another company.
Companies were ecstatic, as payrolls dropped by upwards of 80%. I remember one CEO boasting that the loaded hourly cost of an employee was $159 in the US, but only $1.38 in India. One company outsourced almost 550 of their 600 employees. Almost 90% of the company disappeared overnight.
And then, a year or two later, the reckoning came. Products failed, deadlines were missed, and there was no accountability. Worse, they'd outsourced their core competence, and when they tried to bring it back, the developers and businessmen in India quit, walked across the street to another company, and brought the company's knowledge (in some cases, they literally brought the source code).
The company in the US found the Indian courts didn't care, and the US courts didn't have jurisdiction. So they sued the only people they could - the consultants who'd ordered the outsourcing in the first place.
Around 1998, it was common to see delayed payment, or even clawback clauses in executive agreements. Either the executive didn't get fully paid until 5 years after he left, and only then if the company hadn't suffered negative consequences from his actions, or he legally had to pay back what he'd earned.
Once those clauses went into contracts, there was a lot less outsourcing, not surprisingly.
I'm sorry to say I have been a part to exactly these sorts of decisions. Not willingly, but present on that ship set to sail into known risk whirlpools.
I'm sorry to say I have been a part to exactly these sorts of decisions. Not willingly, but present on that ship set to sail into known risk whirlpools.
You're welcome. 😏 🏴☠️
The strip doesn't mention they're developers.
Probably they're C-levels...
This was such a reality in the finance industry in the 1990s that banks actually started taking legal action.
During the outsourcing boom, companies would hire consultants to streamline operations. The consultant would fire huge swaths of the company, replace them with offshore (usually in India) employees, save the companies millions in salaries, pocket a huge bonus (often in the millions itself), and then move on to another company.
Companies were ecstatic, as payrolls dropped by upwards of 80%. I remember one CEO boasting that the loaded hourly cost of an employee was $159 in the US, but only $1.38 in India. One company outsourced almost 550 of their 600 employees. Almost 90% of the company disappeared overnight.
And then, a year or two later, the reckoning came. Products failed, deadlines were missed, and there was no accountability. Worse, they'd outsourced their core competence, and when they tried to bring it back, the developers and businessmen in India quit, walked across the street to another company, and brought the company's knowledge (in some cases, they literally brought the source code).
The company in the US found the Indian courts didn't care, and the US courts didn't have jurisdiction. So they sued the only people they could - the consultants who'd ordered the outsourcing in the first place.
Around 1998, it was common to see delayed payment, or even clawback clauses in executive agreements. Either the executive didn't get fully paid until 5 years after he left, and only then if the company hadn't suffered negative consequences from his actions, or he legally had to pay back what he'd earned.
Once those clauses went into contracts, there was a lot less outsourcing, not surprisingly.
I'm sorry to say I have been a part to exactly these sorts of decisions. Not willingly, but present on that ship set to sail into known risk whirlpools.
This is a weird thread in which everything gets posted twice.
This is a weird thread in which everything gets posted twice.
No idea why it's posted twice, nor why it refuses to let me delete one. Ghost in the machine thinks it should be seconded I guess?
No idea why it's posted twice, nor why it refuses to let me delete one. Ghost in the machine thinks it should be seconded I guess?