Outsourcing your own job

I recall somebody lending me a book called something like ‘The One Minute Manager’ which preached the philosophy that a manager should be so damn good that he only needs to spend a minute a day taking decisions and tasking his people, such that he can then disappear off to play golf or sit all day with his feet up.

I’m guessing the book was written in the days before the top down was constantly looking for cost cutting ways and on finding a manager spending only a minute each day managing, would save a small fortune by making him redundant.

But spending only a minute has its basis in the idea of efficiency rather than procrastination, innovation rather than tradition.

It was with this in mind that I was absolutely delighted to hear the story of the guy in America who outsourced his entire job to China.  Rather than coming in and actually doing anything, he would play on the ‘net, especially on Youtube (he loved cat videos apparently) and eBay.

He was a software developer paid around $250,000 for his expertise. $50,000 of this he would then spend on getting the firm in China to do the actual work, which he would then present as if it was his own.

Brilliant.

Ok, it does highlight why it is always cheaper to get things done in Far East places like China – they don’t yet enjoy the wealth and luxury of the more opulent parts of the world, and so can charge a fraction of costs in America or Europe – but surely it also highlights the man’s complete ingenuity.

Rather than the tut-tutting and negativity he’s been getting, surely he was only doing what companies like Apple do – have their products built in the Far East, and then shipped home so they can charge a small fortune for them.  He was doing exactly the same, but rather than it being a physical product, it was a virtual one, software.  He should be applauded for what he did.

So I say ‘Well done him’.