My prior post (about excess work) generated a private email suggesting that partnerships would be one way to deal with the problem - that Cogent could enter into an arrangement with one of the larger companies to pass on excess work in exchange for some fee. That would seem to tick most of the boxes - the work gets done by someone we would have referred the customer to anyway, and we get some financial return, so I should feel less like we're "giving something away".
Yet I have some visceral reservations that I need to try to rationalise. I think it's mostly about responsibility and care - if Cogent is going to take money for something then I think we need to stand behind the result, and my experience is that you can lose a lot of money (and reputation) from bailing out one bad gig. If all I say is "here are some folk that have historically done a good job, and we don't have any stake in whether you work with them or not" then I don't feel as much responsibility for what happens downstream.
I think that's the heart of it - thanks for listening/reading while I figured that out.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
It's two things Steve:
ReplyDelete1) You're diluting your brand and just becoming a middle man, not adding value, risking your own reputation and ultimately loosing control of what is delivered.
2) You do what you do, and work the way you do because it works a certain way, gives a certain result and feel. Good tech development isn't just a commodity that can be bought and sold like that, it requires the right fit of skills, personality and approach to match the client, the solution required and the developers.