It is worth wondering why outsourcing documentation fails to bring dividends.

Documentation projects are outsourced amidst much opposition from with in the company. There will on-site employees always unhappy with the very notion of outsourcing "their" work to other locations. The reasons for this opposition can be many. People will be waiting at every opportunity to hit out at the "absurd" drama enacted in the name of documentation. Caught in the quagmire of quality politics are the hapless technical writers at the offshore centre.

The primary reason for failure, I feel, is the lack of faith and negativism against overseas writers. On-site managers are "unusually optimistic" about the lack of quality in the deliverables from outsourced locations. At many instances, there is a marked difference in the demands imposed on the offshore technical writing team than those on-site. Moreover, the kind of work outsourced never helps the offshore technical writers in developing their careers. As a result, frustration creeps in, the quality and productivity suffers, and the project lands on the highway to hell.

There is also a vast disconnect between the expectations and the people selected to achieve these objectives. Training is minimal, knowledge transfer is a joke, the left hand never knows what the right hand is doing, and a few always try to outsmart others. Feedback is never routed directly and the writers never know on what basis are they being assessed. It is only when the "escalation" of issues start, will the hapless writers know that what is expected of them. Relationships sour and the project lands in a mess.

When "smart" companies try to extract the maximum from "inferior resources" overseas, it may not work. Those who manage the offshore team should try to understand and recognise the cultural sensitivities and the limitations of offshore resources. In many cases, a little effort in training the "inferior" can result in dramatic turnarounds and cost savings. Instead, biased and warped minds destroy projects successfully.