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What Outsourcers Can Learn from Open-Source Communities

[ Thanks to Esther
Schindler
for this link. ]

“Asynchronous methods contain their own audit trail.
E-mail, bug trackers and such tools automatically generate a record
of what happened; someone who’s out of synch can catch up with a
little reading. “This trackability also reduces repeat discussions,
and managers know better what their staff are doing,” says Berkus.
In contrast, synchronous methods generally require extra effort
(that is, time) to create a record; and because someone has to
write the record, the task is often skipped.

“”Great programmers are often people whose ability to
concentrate is high but whose multi-tasking skills are poor,”
Berkus points out. Synchronous methods require interruptions, which
has been proven to decrease the overall effectiveness of your best
programmers. Since these programmers do 60 to 90 percent of the
work which ends up in the final product, he says, it pays to coddle
them.”

Complete
Story

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