Does a very efficient but difficult to learn computer language like C++ have a future? In an interesting interview of Bjarne Stroustrup by MIT Technology Review he says yes, of course.

According to Stroustrup, who created C++ at Bell Labs in the 1980s, “the solution is not to dumb down the programming languages but to use a variety of programming languages and educate more experts. There has to be languages for those experts to use–and C++ is one of those languages.”

It’s silly to think that C++ will go away anytime soon. There are too many important applications and devices that are programmed with C++.

If C++ is the right language for your application then the trick is finding the experts you need to development your software. That can be tough in many parts of the U.S.

But many experts do exist in several parts of the world. The highest concentration of C++ talent exists in Eastern Europe and Russia.

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Would you consider outsourcing to Israel? Some will have you believe Israel is the best place to go when quality is more important than cost.

Perhaps. But cost savings is the number one reason for outsourcing in the first place in the vast majority of situations. So why bother with Israel?

Outsourcing to Israel makes sense if you need the special expertise that exists in the highly educated Israeli engineering and scientific community. For example, advanced algorithm work in security, image processing and innovative embedded software design should cause you to seriously look at Israel.

But then again, if you are looking for this kind of talent then you are more likely to want to hire these experts as employees rather than contractors. That’s why software developed in Israel for U.S. companies is mostly done in company-owned operations there. Sometimes the U.S. operation is owned by the Israeli company. And these companies have Israelis on the management team in both locations.

If you are looking for low-cost software development of your .NET or Java web application then Israel will probably not be the first place you consider for your offshore software development.

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It’s the time of year where pundits and prognosticators predict what will happen next year. CIO Insight has put forth their list of a whopping thirty trends. Only these three involve outsourcing:

12. Outsourcing changes IT management

13. Outsourcing growth slows

14. Offshoring shifts from India

Trend #12 on their list means companies will change their IT management approaches to grapple with the issues caused by more and more outsourcing. These issues include vendor selection, managing the vendors and tracking service levels.

Poor performance with existing outsourcing is causing the change in management approach. It is also the cause of slower growth in outsourcing predicted in trend #13.

Increased costs, poor performance and time zone differences are reasons cited that predict trend #14. Other countries are poised to take advantage of this trend if it occurs.

Do you see these same trends occurring in your company?

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A survey in early 2006 says there is shortage of embedded software engineers. Respondents also said outsourcing embedded software development is the key to overcoming the problem.

But outsource to whom?

Another survey conclusion is that “identifying and contracting with high-quality outsourcing partners is the most serious human-resource management issue that the executives expect to face during the next three years.”

Embedded software is a very broad area from microcontrollers to full computer processors and from microkernels to embedded Windows XP (XPe). Outsourcing vendors will have to specialize to win business.

If you are considering outsourcing of your embedded software development, then will you outsource the hardware design and development too? Where do you draw the line between what you can outsource and what you need to keep in-house?

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It’s the time of year where pundits and prognosticators predict what will happen next year. CIO Insight has put forth their list of a whopping thirty trends. Only these three involve outsourcing:

12. Outsourcing changes IT management
13. Outsourcing growth slows
14. Offshoring shifts from India

Trend #12 on their list means companies will change their IT management approaches to grapple with the issues caused by more and more outsourcing. These issues include vendor selection, managing the vendors and tracking service levels.

Poor performance with existing outsourcing is causing the change in management approach. It is also the cause of slower growth in outsourcing predicted in trend #13.

Increased costs, poor performance and time zone differences are reasons cited that predict trend #14. Other countries are poised to take advantage of this trend if it occurs.

Do you see these same trends occurring in your company?

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Not tomorrow. Mexico is here today!

Outsourcing to Mexico seems to be getting more notice lately in the press. The government is heavily promoting Mexico as a natural destination for IT outsourcing from the U.S. They have helped to establish a Mexican business incubator named TechBA here in Silicon Valley a couple of years ago.

Outsourcing to Mexico seems to be ideal – it’s close, many Mexican engineers are bilingual and they can travel to and from the U.S. easily because of NAFTA. In fact some American companies use Mexican programmers for staff augmentation. But outsourcing to Mexico is less expensive than bring engineers here.

An editorial in CIO magazine has both positive and negative stories to tell about outsourcing to Mexico. But overall, I have heard many more positive stories. Outsourcing anywhere can be difficult if you have limited experience. But wouldn’t you rather fly to Mexico in a few hours than spending days traveling to India to straighten out technical and management issues?

Would you consider Mexico as your outsourcing destination? If not, why not?

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The Associated Press is reporting demonstrations in Communist Rebels Rally in Nepal. More unrest and fighting?

Thank goodness, no!

According to this article, and in Himalayan Hopes in The Economist this week, peace is at hand. An agreement signed this week has both the rebels and the army locking up their weapons in facilities to be monitored by the U.N.

What a contrast from this spring when there were demonstrations and fighting in the streets.

Accelerance has a software development partner in Nepal and they assured us that things were OK with them in Kathmandu. It was too much for one Accelerance client at the time however. He had selected the Nepali team to develop his web application last spring. But then he changed his mind at the last minute when demonstrations and violence broke out in April.

Now it seems things are finally back to normal. I hope outsourcing and continued economic development there will help keep things on the peaceful path in Nepal.

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There is an interesting news article about Intel investing in the $500 million Vietnam outsourcing company FPT. Also investing is Texas Pacific Group. Vivek Paul, is now a partner with TPG, but was former executive of India outsourcing giant Wipro. 

Vivek Paul will be an advisor to FPT and is in a good position to make introductions for FTP to many Indian outsourcing companies. Is this a sign that U.S. investors are betting on Vietnam to take on the overflow of outsourcing work that can no longer be handled cost effectively by India? 

The FPT client list is dominated by Japanese companies. This investment also be a sign that Vietnam is ready to start courting U.S. clients directly and bypassing India altogether. 

Although a $500 million outsourcing company may be too big for your needs, I think this news item shows Vietnam is entering the main stream of outsourcing destinations. Perhaps it is time for you to consider Vietnam for your IT outsourcing and offshore software development too.    

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I was quoted in a wide-ranging article about software quality published in Global Services last week. The starting premise of the article is that Indian programmers are faster and cheaper but deliver software very low in quality. 

What a crock!  

I told the author (politely) that I disagreed with this stereotypical theory. Even if you have some “evidence” of poor quality software developed in India, then it is just anecdotal and does not prove there is a general or systemic problem.  

“Hold on”, the author calmed me down, “I am finding that most people agree with you.” Indeed, the title he selected for the article is Fallacies About Failure.

The conclusion drawn by the article is that the work you put in on specifying your software pays off in the end. Without a specification – a definition of what your software should do, then you have no objective measure of what quality is. Similarly, not having a software development process to manage and guide the programmers will lead to delays and problems with software quality.

I agree that working on your software requirements and specifications is very important, especially when there is a large penalty (like loss of revenue or even lives) if you get it wrong. Chapter 5 of my book Software without Borders (this chapter is available for download on the book website) discusses the software requirements and specification issue. The problem is that for many new software applications it is rare to know exactly what you want. Writing a long specification can seem like a huge waste of time.  

And it probably is.  

Instead, many companies are using more “agile” software development methods to gradually and iteratively deliver the software functionality needed. You don’t need a complete specification – just enough detail to get your programmers started.  

Sounds great!  But can it work with offshore outsourcing?  

The answer is yes. But you need the right kind of offshore team with professional engineers that can collaborate with you to develop the software you need. Don’t just outsource to the cheapest programmers. Hire the better programmers that have a track record of creating high quality software – no matter what country they are in.

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